One of the last things I do at the end of the day is watch the more “adult” cartoons on Teletoon. Shows like Futurama, American Dad, Robot Chicken, etc. For my American readers, it’s a Canadian version of Adult Swim but a lot more polite.

Last night, Teletoon sunk to a new low of television programming. All during their evening line up, they kept flashing sidebar ads and squeeze-in ads (where the screen shrinks 1/3rd it’s size to reveal a static ad) for the new Kick Ass DVD and Will Ferrel’s new movie, The Other Guys.  I’ve become use to this kind of guerrilla marketing and let’s face it, they’re just cartoons. It makes the channel look like some cheap free periodical you find at the bottom of a muddy subway car, but it’s the nature of advertising. Faster, stronger, bolder messages to cut through the noise.

Teletoon upped the ante last night and started to insert ads mid-sentence of a character’s line. We’re talking full cut-away, 5-10 second blip ad made to look like a newsflash. I don’t have video but you can imagine it looked something like this:

American Dad’s Steve: But I don’t like-

CUT TO A CNN STYLE NEWS  CRAWL: ATTENTION A SUPERHERO HAS BEEN SPOTTED! BUY THE NEW KICK ASS DVD IN STORES TODAY! DO IT!

American Dad’s Steve: –Kelly Clarkson’s music!

When I saw this I actually thought it was a control booth error, until they did it once for every show that night. Somewhere, during a mild conversation moment in whatever episode, they’d cut away to this blip ad and shoot right back like nothing happened.

If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face— forever.

This kind of advertising is disturbing. Let alone rendering the viewer gun-shy, not knowing when they’re going to be assaulted with an ad.

I say fuck you, Teletoon. Fuck you in

ATTENTION A SUPERHERO HAS BEEN SPOTTED! BUY THE NEW KICK ASS DVD IN STORES TODAY! DO IT!

your ugly face.