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Why do so many commercials seem to follow this same format (see details)

Asked by PhiNotPi (12681points) November 24th, 2011

Where I live, there seem to be many commercials airing with this same format: (I have probably over-analyzed this, so I will say the most important steps are numbers 1, 2, 4, 6, and 10)

1. It shows a video of life before the product. In my opinion, the people featured seem to be acting very stupid. The video is sometimes in monochrome.
2. Shows off all of the features of the product
3. Repeats the previous 2 steps
4. Tells how much the most expensive products in this area are. Sometimes they doen’t use the prices of the competition, but just say some arbitrary large amount and say that that is not the price of their product
5. Tells the price of their product (much less the expensive but still way overpriced)
6. Doubles the offer (twice the product for the same price)
7. Adds in a “free gift”
8. Lists off the “total value” of all of these items
9. Tells actual price, the same exact price as before. It seems like a good deal, but only for a limited time.
10. Goes to a still image with the picture of the product inset in the upper left hand corner, the price in the upper right, and their phone number and website address written across the bottom.

So why are there so many commercials that follow this format? The products featured in each one have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Who is responsible or this?

Note: I have put this in social because while I do want to know the answer, a main part of the reason for this question is becuase I am annoyed by the commercials.

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