(TLDR - just ideas re: the foreign language predicament FYI)
With so much in the world in which to be angry - like starvation, poverty, war, the government, the pandemic or global warming, just to name a few things - with a little perspective, it’s absurd that anyone could be so bothered by being exposed to a few fleeting, trivial moments in a foreign language. And I’m talking to myself even here.
There are multiple posts about this topic. It’s a recurring issue. There’s nothing wrong with suggestions even if they may be misdirected. I think I saw on one post, someone threatened to cancel their service as if they could make a deal with Roku. Stop it or else! Do it again & face the consequences of me no longer enjoying the service.
Over the last few years, I’ve heard others refer to ‘you people’ or your generation saying that we choose weird hills to die upon. I don’t know how old anyone is but I’m 53. The first time I heard that I didn’t really understand it so I asked someone to explain. They said there are plenty of causes to fight about yet some are simply trivial & nonsensical. Perhaps we get our priorities out of whack.
When I first saw this topic, I agreed. I thought that since I don’t speak Spanish, I don’t really care for the ads so I can jump on this bandwagon. In fact, I saw a channel the other day of shorts, which I really enjoyed because once when videotapes were becoming obsolete, there was this quaint video store tucked away in an alternative area of Houston that was filled with categories/selections of shorts. These included annual Award or festival winning short films/directors/theme collections of say claymation, stop motion, adult cartoons (like Bill Plympton), Aon Flux, live action & various formats. There is great media that only ever appeared on occasion on cable when programming sometimes had empty blocks like occasional 15 minute shows in the lineup back in the 90s on HBO or MTV. Those shows were actually memorable so when I found the ROKU shorts channel, its novelty is entertaining. However, it’s obviously struggling because it has almost no advertising. Rather, it has like 5-10 minute ‘place holders’ of the exact same image with text stating that programming would return. I don’t even know why those are required at all when there’s no ad to show. Perhaps someone else can explain that.
It was really interesting that some of the shorts on the days that I was watching were also in other languages but not Spanish. Once short movie was in Ma Darin Chinese & another in an African language. It was really interesting that there were no subtitles available yet I still ended up watching the shows. I would prefer to know what was going on, though. Also I noticed that they had about a 4 hour block of repeated programming which changed daily. That’s probably the definition of a struggling channel. I’ve seen the same in the live shows menu.
Reading varied responses for the posts about Spanish ads, I found many valid arguments/explanations that I hadn’t considered.
I saw one response that said that the person hates all ads in any language so they always attempt skipping past and/or not paying attention to them. I think it may have been here as nearly the same sentiment was then added by suggesting to just mute the volume. Those are pretty simplistic solutions. However, to get an idea of why anyone sees ads in Spanish & then to consider those reasons …made things much clearer.
There’s a good chance that Roku has nothing to do with ad selection aside from perhaps a cursory review for content. Advertisers pay the bills! So, if an advertiser chooses an English language channel then, so be it. If all of that is true, then Roku is simply the vehicle/platform beneath the programming. That means Roku provides the services, but advertisers provide most of the revenue that makes any programming possible.
Someone said there’s a chance that an advertiser doesn’t even realize that their ad is in the wrong market & thus not reaching their target audience. They suggested that perhaps more progress can be made by contacting the actual advertisers to notify them of this. Another said some channels may not have a choice but to accept any advertiser, & I’ve seen some channels that play the same few commercials every single time. Sometimes channels don’t even have advertisers so that’s a good indication that those channels are struggling & that’s probably why instead of commercials like on the Shorts channel, I’d see the same 10 minute placeholder between shows. I have to assume those channels are extremely grateful to have any advertiser, even in a foreign language, as long as it pays the bills and makes their programming possible. Someone said that there’s a good chance that some advertisers have decided that despite a large percentage of non multilingual viewers, their ads still reach enough people to make it worth it.
I was thinking that just by having this conversation & pondering these reasons, this exercise in itself is pretty good advertising! I remember well that almost exclusively I see only two commercials often in Spanish. These are McDonald’s and a grocery store in Texas (HEB). While I don’t speak Spanish fluently & despite having deselected ’Personal Recommendations’ for advertising, I live in an area with a large population that are bilingual. That aside, the more we discuss it here then the more successful their advertising is because I’m thinking about McDonald’s & HEB! Basically, these threads saying to stop Spanish ads or else are probably great for advertisers if you think about it. It doesn’t even matter if it’s positive or negative attention because as they say, any publicity is good publicity. Obviously a bunch of people have noticed the commercials in Spanish. I’d say that’s pretty effective.
Someone pointed out that the complaints are such a tiny percentage but that’s not statistically true. Each comment or complaint here is representative of a much higher number of people that feel the same way. So the simple act of complaining here won’t change anything but it does serve any advertisers that may be watching by showing just how effective their Spanish ads are in reality.
Signed,
Just another bigot
PS: Isn’t it interesting when your only introduction to someone is a pretty negative comment then additionally their signature that self proclaims that they may not be likable but they’re not here to make any friends? Triggered much? Doesn’t that immediately make people biased against, less likely to hear anything they say & possibly to even be prepared if not enticed into the act of arguing? In that signature there is also the claim that they’re extremely knowledgeable. Maybe … yet if people read that signature then there’s a great chance that no one even wants to hear what the person says because of this preamble describing an unpleasant personality which doesn’t sound very conducive to a support group. Like yes please I need information from someone knowledgeable with over 50 years of combined experience in various “areas” that is ready to be a jerk, even if by proxy. I know I’m very reassured by that, snowflake. Yes, may I have another??!
