It's Not the TV, It's the Commercials

paying for commercials (4.00 / 3)

All those commercials are paid for by American taxpayers. Every penny of the cost is deductible as an ordinary business expense. Perhaps the time has come to limit corporate advertising deductions. Eliminate the deduction; say some percentage of the expense is deductible, without a cap; or cap deductions at some generous number.

Is it in the public interest to fully subsidize these commercials? How much is enough?

Changing the tax code in this way will never happen. Seems a good idea, though.

I visited supermarkets yesterday, to look at cereal packages. The first striking observation was how ugly the packaging is for kids' cereals. Colors are garish, graphics are crowded, excessively busy, and ugly. Nothing about the appearance of the boxes indicates that they contain anything edible, much less delectable. I surmise that marketing departments feel compelled to spend megabucks to undo the damage self-inflicted by graphics departments. "C'mon, kids, despite appearances, what's in the boxes won't kill you right away. Eat up - it's fun!"

Some cereal brands have handsome, well-designed packages. McCann's oatmeal products and Hodgson Mill cereals come to mind. Do these companies have big TV buys during cartoon time? Or any other time?

---

by: count @ Tue Feb 16, 2010 at 10:44:56 AM UTC

I never even thought of that... (4.00 / 2)

Are they really?  Yeesh.

Why can't I deduct the cost of my bus pass to get to work?  Oh, that's right.  I don't have lobbyists...

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

---

by: JayinPortland @ Tue Feb 16, 2010 at 11:19:09 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

another good idea (4.00 / 1)

Let's say companies can lobby as much as they wish, up to some limiting cap! Would that be a violation of a personhood's right of free speech?

---

by: count @ Tue Feb 16, 2010 at 11:24:29 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

You can deduct your bus pass (4.00 / 2)

if you itemize. You can also deduct any special clothing you have to wear, equipment you might have to buy (hand tools like trowels would be something that a person in my trades would buy), etc. Unfortunately, unless you have a LOT of deductions, it's not cost effective to itemize.

That's why I never bothered to itemize when I was an employee. I got to keep more using the standard deduction.

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

---

by: Joanne Rigutto @ Tue Feb 16, 2010 at 11:54:28 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

caps (4.00 / 1)

I like this idea more, the more I think about it. Probably the only potentially plausible modification of the tax code would be to cap advertising deductions. A cap could be chosen that would allow about 98% or 99% of businesses to advertise as much as they want or can afford, but might slow down certain bad actors.

---

by: count @ Tue Feb 16, 2010 at 11:21:59 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Matching donations... (4.00 / 3)

Every dollar a company spends on advertising sugary cereal, they have to match with donations to a childhood obesity prevention organization?

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

---

by: JayinPortland @ Tue Feb 16, 2010 at 11:42:27 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Commercial television... (4.00 / 1)

I don't watch much teevee these days, besides old movies and basketball games (I think I have a semi-supernatural ability to mostly tune out when commercials come on, always have), but even I couldn't help but take notice of a sequence I saw the other day - there was a commercial encouraging kids to 'be active' (featuring a football player - I want to say it was Drew Brees, quarterback of the Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints?), and then 2 out of the next 3 commercials were for sugary cereals.  This was during a college basketball game probably 3 or 4 days ago.

I found the order of the commercials quite interesting.  What is a 5-year old gonna remember - some 'old dude' (to them, at least) telling them to go for a run, or Cap'n Crunch or Tony Tiger telling them to eat a bowl of grrrrrrrreat!

Hmmm...

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

---

by: JayinPortland @ Tue Feb 16, 2010 at 11:10:54 AM UTC

commercial sequences (4.00 / 2)

speaking of which, the thing I love most about women's magazines is the covers - the ones that promise ten tips for how to lose 12 pounds per week, plastered next to a photo of a 4,000-calorie-per-serving dessert.

---

by: count @ Tue Feb 16, 2010 at 11:17:24 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

When my kid was little (4.00 / 2)

I borrowed many many video tapes from the children's section of the library. Also bought some of the better quality ones, classic cartoons, and Disney movies. This greatly helped tide us over.

I did not buy candy on a regular basis, just healthy treats like nuts, dried fruit, cheese, fruit. We'd make cookies together and conjure up popsicles from real fruit juice. Treats are special treats, not everyday food.

She is in good shape nutritionally and cooks most of her own food now in college to save money and improve nutrition. Her friends get together and cook together. They went to see Julie and Julia together.

---

by: cybercitizen @ Tue Feb 16, 2010 at 15:30:12 PM UTC

In high school my kid and her friends held (4.00 / 2)

smoothie parties.

When they cook these days, they'll make things like guacamole, Indian curries, grapefruit cupcakes, vegetarian chile, quiche, pasta salad, wonton. Very multicultural.

---

by: cybercitizen @ Tue Feb 16, 2010 at 15:36:53 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

god you're lucky (4.00 / 2)

raising kids in 2 different households has complications when the 2 divorced parents have different eating habits and TV-watching rules and such. In our house there's almost no TV and the food is often healthy. We try.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

---

by: Jill Richardson @ Tue Feb 16, 2010 at 18:47:48 PM UTC

[ Parent ]