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Boston radio personalities who blathered about how much a new Google phone improved their lives were lying because they didn't have the phones, state charges
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Names?
I read the complaint and I don't see and "Boston Media Personalities" names. Can anyone name these bad boys and girls? Enquiring minds want to know.
I'm shocked
to discover that iHeartMedia employs actual human DJ's with actual lives to misrepresent.
Yeah,
Pics or it didn't happen, right?
are we
really ready to start demanding TRUTH IN ADVERTISING?
I seriously doubt it. NOBODY post-kindygarten is up for that shit and you'd be wise not to fall for any claims to the contrary.
More like truth in terms of
More like truth in terms of "is this a commercial". Regulations have been swinging towards that for a while - Influencers, Instagrammers, etc, are now required to disclose if they received products for free or were paid to gush about them. As long as the audience knows this statement was paid for, they can discern whether or not they want to believe the advertising. It gets tricky when otherwise trusted personalities say a bunch of ad copy and you don't REALIZE they're acting in a commercial.
oh KISS 108
Its one of they annoying things about the morning drive shows now.
Because they DONT. And its blended in with the rest of the show meaning, you may hear them so "and that was Britney Spears with baby one more time."
And then the next line is
"Have you tried dunkin donuts new flavored cofffee"
And the other host will chime in like they just randomly talked about it on the air.
NO that spot was paid for dunkin donuts.
This practice should be illegal. I'm not sure why they are getting away with it..
Why they are getting away with it
Because starting with Reagan, the Republicans (with help from Democrats) have been working hard to normalize the idea that anything corporations want to do is just fine and should be allowed. They will have you believe that the only alternative to that is Communism, and we don't want that, now do we?
My default assumption any time I hear
a celebrity endorsement is that they probably don't actually use the product or service, but are saying nice things about it because somebody paid them to.
Making false claims about the product or service itself is another matter. "I love my Pixel 4" even if they don't really own a Pixel 4 is okay. "I use a Pixel 4 because it doesn't cause brain cancer like iPhones do" is not.
Well, at least, no lies
Well, at least, no lies associated with My Pillows.
I love my Fascist Pillow! It
I love my Fascist Pillow! It was the final solution to my insomnia problem.
I wonder who
I wonder who tipped off the AG. Can a whistleblower make money from reporting something like this?
What gets me
I'd like to see a lot more public corruption cases instead of socially insignificant ones like these.
I wish Healey the best of luck as Governor but I wasn't impressed with how she spent her time as AG.
I once worked for a station
I once worked for a station where the morning DJ did paid testimonials for Comcast... all while stealing cable. I guess they weren't wrong by saying "I love my Comcast cable tv"... who wouldn't when it's free.
The punishment
Since they aren't using the public airwaves responsibly their should loose their FCC license. It should be given to a non-profit community group.
(It's fun to daydream.)
There was a time...
...You could lose your station's license if your parent company was found guilty of corruption. Remember WNAC-TV and General Tire which owned RKO General?
This is direct corruption. Where's the FTC and more importantly the FCC?
Time Was
A corporation couldn't own more than one broadcast license of each type in the same market. It's a travesty that rules such as that were eliminated by both parties in the 80s and 90s.
As far as I'm concerned, any public use of Radio & TV frequencies should be limited to noncommercial uses and no one group should be able to own more than one license nationwide.
iHeartRadio shouldn't exist.
Pretty good documentary on it
This is the trailer for the documentary Corporate FM. It's not too long but a pretty good look at what radio was a few decades ago, what it's turned into and how the people who work in the industry are hanging on.
I remember WHDH
It was channel 5, until the Kennedys got it shut down, along with the Herald, because free speech?
actually....
your memory is failing or you just don't like Kennedy.
The late senator didn't get anything shut down.
The station was bought by a group led by David Mugar as their broadcast license was about to be revoked for corruption.
Interesting take
In the land of the "special operation," they also revoke the licenses of broadcasters for the same reason. Of course, that they are on the leaders' shit list is just a coincidence.
At the end of the day, Teddy didn't like the Herald, so he spent a lot of effort trying to destroy it. He failed, though the rise of this medium hasn't helped matters for the paper.
background...
https://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/22/us/sales-of-2-boston-tv-stations-are-...
Oh u mean like how when sales
Oh u mean like how when sales people are trying to sell you something more pricey and they say it's their favorite and they bought it too and have it at home? Where there is advertising there is lying.
$9,460,000 out of IHeartMedia
$9,460,000 out of IHeartMedia's $1.15 billion dollar net worth is barely a sneeze. They'll fight it for years though. I hate those guys.
Burning question
Did Fred Flintstone actually smoke Winstons, and nothing else? His words!
Only on the commercials.
I do not recall Fred Flintstone smoking anything during the actual animated series. I believe he did smoke a cigar when he got the Vice President promotion in "The Flintstones Movie" after Barney switched his aptitude test for Fred's.