Since redistricting made barbarians out of politicians, I have not really cared what promises they make to win office.  However, President Obama made one that I really care about, i.e., controlling loud TV commercials.  In 2011, he did get Congress to pass the Commercial Advertisement Litigation Mitigation or CALM Act, which reduced the average volume level of commercials.

Did you notice?

The key word is average.  Since CALM, advertisers introduced a few seconds of silence in their commercials and increased the volume of other seconds . . . pretty clever, huh??  The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) just ruled that a new “loudness measurement algorithm” will be employed, beginning June 4, 2015.  It will eliminate the silent seconds in computing the average.  My guess is that advertisers will introduce just the minimal measurement amount of sound into the formally silent seconds, to hold the average down.  Next year, I’ll bet you will not even notice the difference.  After all, if they cannot make commercials loud enough to get your attention, why would they pay for our TV programs?

The advertising industry can stand up to Congress.  It can stand up to the President.  It can make children and their parents believe that unhealthy food tastes good.  It is the single most powerful industry in the world.