Ask Your Doctor About the Mute Button
Not long ago I acquired a new television set. On it I watch lots of sports, too much news, older movies, PBS mysteries, and the occasional concert or documentary. I worry, though, that the set might soon go on the fritz because I so often press the mute button on its remote. What I mute—turning my head away from the television screen—is commercials, specifically those having to do with health, hospitals, clinics and innumerable pharmaceuticals from Attruby to Zyrtec.
I recall reading that eight minutes of every half-hour of television are given over to commercials. I'm not against commercials per se. I am enough of a capitalist to recognize that someone must pay for my entertainment. OK, show all the beer and car ads you like, but the predominance of commercials about health—really, about failing health—is quite another matter.
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