Use Your Words

As someone who has been doing radio for a number of years, I tend to listen to commercials more than I should probably admit. It's not the messaging that I'm interested in nor the product being sold, but it's how the commercial is selling the product that catches me. I say this because hockey games on the radio have a lot of time where commercials can be run, and companies need to have effective messaging for their advertisement to be catchy. In preapring commercials for sponsors of the 2026 Female World Sport School Challenge, I've found that a large number of companies are only producing video commercials that have few, if any, voiceovers.

I get that visual media often doesn't need a lot of words when imagery does the trick. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, right? But when it comes to looking for radio commercials for companies, there aren't a lot of audio databases like YouTube or iSpot where audio commercials are held. With no database like that, I've had to use visual media for some of those commercials and there are a lot of ads where the words appear on the screen with no voiceover.

For the last three days, I have spent an exhausting amount of time creating radio commercials for companies who produce excellent visual media, but terrible audio media. One company has dozens of commercials on their YouTube account with all sorts of information and products, but this company rarely uses a voiceover to help promote their products. Heck, this company doesn't even mention its own name other than posting their logo at the end of the commercial. Again, this helps for visual media, but it's awful for people who may need the audio portion for things to make sense.

As a person who has 20/20 vision, it never occurred to me how vitally important the audio was in commercials until I began encountering more and more commercials that had none. This led me down a rabbit hole of thinking about how people with visual impairments may experience these commercials, and I landed on a page for the American Council for the Blind where Yvonne B. Garris gave an account of what it's like for her when she's watching television.

She makes one statement that I completely agree with, stating,

After hearing your ad, do you know what the commercial is for? If not, please change the commercial.

Honestly, I cannot disagree with her. There were lots of times over the last 72 hours where I sat with my eyes closed as a commercial played through my headphones, and I had no idea what the company was selling nor what company it was had I not been looking for them.

I'm not here to call out any of these companies for producing the advertisements they have. They're far more successful than I so whatever they're doing seems to work. However, they can be better as Miss Garris states and I support, and I hope that her statement above serves as a reminder for companies moving forward that there is a segment of the population with great influence and buying power that is often underserved by these companies' advertisements.

If you're in marketing or advertising and you're reading this, my hope is that this resonates with you. As someone with no visual impairments, I know I often take for granted that commercials and advertisements cater to those who can see. Selfishly, I could use more chatter in visual advertising to make creating radio ads easier, but I'm the last person to whom companies should be catering. Instead, I'm advocating for Miss Gerris whose simple request would make a huge difference in her life and, in turn, assist me.

In a world where communicating is supposed to be easier, we seem to be talking less and less. Use your words, folks. They matter.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!