Journalistic Bombast

[Mike]

I really hate it when a personality I like and respect does an ad-read on their show with deceptive and/or inaccurate information.

Josh Scherer of Good Mythical Kitchen and the podcast A Hotdog is a Sandwich has an ad for some water filtration system that begins with, "Hey Nicole! Did you know that most people consume a credit card's weight worth of microplastics EVERY WEEK?"

And I thought to myself immediately that that didn't sound right. So I looked it up. But every single article has that same 5g (about a credit card). It all stems from a single study that made a splash with that headline. After some digging, I found an article that put in into context. The article gave a range for the number of plastic particles that people might eat and also a range for the possible weights for those particles. If you take the high end of both of those, then yes, it's technically possible that SOME people somewhere in the world are eating up to 5g of plastic, but it wouldn't be typical. In fact, the article that started all of this actually gave calculations for a reasonable estimate of the worldwide average, which they put at about 0.7 grams. MUCH more reasonable.

So I get why even someone who does basic fact-checking might decide that this checked out, but it just highlights a huge weak spot in our media reporting, and one that I've lamented before. Even when the original scholarly article gives a reasonable picture, someone has to find a way to stretch the info to make a click-bait headline.

[poorpete]

Agreed, ad reads are weird and can really turn me off a podcast if I feel they are shilling for an iffy product, though I know sometimes they have no choice.

I listen to Blank Check, and they do a great job slash terrible ad job at ad-reads. Like you can often tell when they actually are enthusiastic about a product or not. One I remember they were tasked with an ad-read about some kind of lawn care product, and how they really played up how they, both Manhattanites who never owned a lawn, couldn't live without this product. It probably sounded fine to the advertisers, but for us in the know, it was pretty hilarious.

That said, I probably listen to about 10% of all podcast ads, I got my finger on the +30 and -15 buttons and only occasionally, usually when doing laundry or cleaning where I'm not always near my phone, where I'm stuck listening to a pitch.

[Mike]

I used to be really good with skipping ads, but lately I've gotten lazy and just let them run. Part of me thinks I should get back in the habit, but I only listen to two regular podcasts anymore (plus two that only come out once or twice a year), so I don't feel the same urgency to get through them and on to the next that I used to.

[Kyle]

I understand, however, the need for streamers (be they youtube or podcast) to be able to really sell ads. I think it makes a difference. If you're willing to make it entertaining, even if it's dumb and bombastic- you'll get more. And those ads pay WAY more than the ads that are just inserted after editing and don't contain the host. So you're right- it's irritating. But go back to the old talk shows (go way back to Carson and his ilk) and this dates back to then-- and it never left radio.