Dragon Naturally Speaking review: Commercial too long 92

I'm not alone! I code for a living, and find that having the Science Channel on in the background usually helps me concentrate, but these ads always take me out of my zone.

I'm so glad that I'm not the only one! I really hated the originally commercial but I think i hate the new one even more. They always choose a horrible spokesperson. This new lady looks around 30 but she's dressed like she's 14. She stands there stiff as a board in the most un-stylish pair of jeans I've ever seen. The audible commercial (audiobooks) is a close runner up to the dragon commercial does anyone hate that one too? It comes on just as often as dragon and on the same channels, clearly someone thinks that they are targeting the right demographic by airing this ads on discovery / history stations. Also is anyone mad else mad that the science channel is trying to air sci-fi shows like firefly and fringe? I have nothing against those shows but i tine into the science channel for real science documentaries not fake science tv dramas.

I change the channel as soon as I see the lady put her headset on. This is the most infuriating commercial I've ever seen . It is obnoxiously long and I end up missing the show I was watching sometimes because I find something to fill the void of the vortex of longevity. I have time to get in to another story and get to know what the show is all about... and when I flip back that dang Dragon commercial is STILL PLAYING!

And what I was dreading, is now coming to pass! Other companies are gonna copy Dragon and there will be any number of commercials that will go on and on and on... The latest "copy-cat" commercial is Humana. And believe me, if it works for one ad agency, the rest will follow like lemmings to the sea! People in the advertising industry are worse than lawyers and used car salesmen! They will steal any idea that will make them more important and will accrue more cold, hard cash! This is the way little ad agencies get to be big ones and big ones get to be bigger. All it takes is one blockbuster ad campaign to do the trick. So, don't be surprised if this tendency towards longer and longer commercials doesn't get some serious traction. I know - I've been there!

Holy crap, These commercials are annoying as hell. Is there any way to get them off the air.

How about the bizarre head movements and facial expressions of the spikes lady? The patronizing tone and eternal recurrence of the headset routine. "Search 'cookoo, ' click send."

I'm glad I'm not the only one with such extreme hatred for this commercial. I have to get up super early to go to work in the mornings, and like to have the TV on while I'm getting ready. The Science channel is the only one on that's not airing one of them damn 30 minute pecker ads, but when this stupid Dragon commercial comes on, it's just about as bad. I get a sick feeling every time it starts. It goes on forever, and JUST when you think it's over, they say "just like so and so" and go through a whole other scenario with some idiot that's not smart enough to type what's in their head, and that happens 3 or 4 more times. This is the first commercial I've ever actually timed, and it IS every bit of 5 minutes long. I'm not mad at the Science channel so much, and this may actually be a decent product, but I would NEVER buy it, just for the simple fact of this commercial sucking so bad.

Those commercials are worse than Chinese water torture. Too long and too repetitive. They make me change channels and I have missed several programs because I get stuck on something else. Get a clue Dragon. Get some commercial recognition programs. Being annoying and obnoxious doesn't sell. At least not to me.

This is a broader problem with long mini-infomercials. It is my believe that they are generally ineffective precisely because people get fed up with them. It shows a remarkable lack of insight from a marketing prospective to hock these commercials on all the major cable networks. Nothing breeds hatred of your product more... sure - you'll pick up uninformed users... P.T. Barnum was right when he claimed that "there's a sucker born every minute." Still - if you're an advertizer, I think there's a certain level of ethical standards that you should maintain. If your commercial is pissing off more people than it is gathering you business, you're doing it wrong!

Holy h@ll. I found this board as now it's 2012. The didn't learn from thei last years complaints...Now a new commercial just as long with some chick.
Look at the name of the software, it explains it all. Dragon Software Commercials Drag On (and on and on and on...)

I love many of the programs on the Science Channel. But it has come to a point that I have a semi-dread feeling watching the show due to the inevitability of this damn commercial. I want to strangle that main guy. And nobody wants to hear the old man's million stories! A thousand curses upon the creators of this commercial!

I knew I couldn't be the only one to find this commercial so annoying, these comment made me laugh. The part I hate th most is when he says a mother who is mothering what the hell. I thought that by now they would've shortened the commercial like so many shorter commercials do after a long run. I'm not ure ho good the product is but I absolutely HATE this commercial!

You could say these commercials really drag on.

Haha oh man this commercial makes me want to kill someone.

My email to Dragon (Nuance) / Discovery Network-

'Your software seems to be fairly ok. In fact I currently use your Iphone app. However, this is not why I contact you.

THE COMMERCIAL YOU RUN ON THE DISCOVERY NETWORK IS THE MOST ANNOYING I HAVE EVER SEEN. IN FACT, YOU'VE FOUND THE MAGIC FORMULA OF ANNOYANCE.

IT GRATES ON MY MIND SO INTENSELY THAT I WOULD NOT PURCHASE A NUANCE PRODUCT IF MY LIFE DEPENDED ON IT. WHEN IT COMES ON, I INSTANTLY CHANGE THE PROGRAM AND LITERALLY CURSE OUT LOUD. IF I AM IN THE SHOWER AND HEAR IT COME ON, I WALK OUT, TURN OFF THE TV, AND THROW THE REMOTE.

I'VE NEVER BEEN PROMPTED TO WRITE A COMPANY FOR THIS REASON, BUT REALIZE I AM NOT ALONE. GOOGLE IT.

Thanks for your time and MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON YOUR SOULS FOR CREATING THIS ABOMINATION.

Best Regards,

Lets take all commercials off of the TV. And Yahoo everything.

I hate this commercial so much, I am sure not to tell everyone I hate it because that would give them the word of mouth advertising they are looking for. If someone brings it up, I tell them every single thing I hate about it and it's condescending advertising department. To think people need 4 chapters to say, here you are inept or lazy and can't figure it out on you own, so I am going to make a special little segment just for you. If you are one of the channels carrying this commercial, I realize you have to pay the bills, but if other advertisers discover people are turning the channel just because of this commercial it's going to be even harder when they dump you. So please, for the love of God, dump this crap commercial.

I f-ing hate this commercial. It makes me want to stop watching Science Channel. For gods sake, cut it to a 1 minute commercial AT MOST. Don't make it 5 damn minutes long.

I ###ing hate dragon! Stop these commercials! I will never buy or recommend this product!

I "Literally" [sic] turn the channel right away when this lame commercial comes on.
I too watch the Science Channel and several other educational stations and I am so sick of this commercial... It just drones on and on and has gotten to the point where it makes me feel ill.
I can handle some annoying commercials once in a while but 'dragon naturally speaking' is by far the worst of them.
Especially on a channel that is intended for intelligent folks... and at 3-4AM to boot!
Note to these channels: You are losing viewers with this stupid commercial!

I'm using my dragon right now...not?

Seriously, all I wanna watch is Through The Worm Hole and I just can't bear to sit through this damn Dragon commercial again. The main guy's voice is terrible. Vocal fry much?

I guess repitition is key, but I would seriously never buy their product just because of the commercial.

Thank you Science channel :(

It's now june, I'm happily enjoying History chanel and the damn thing is STILL AIRING. God this is the worst comercial I have ever seen. I will never buy this product, I will discourage others from buying it, I will file a complaint every time I see it and I will shut off the TV.

March 30th 2012 and the way too long commercial is still going strong. Instead of muting I just change the channel and don't even return until the next day or later. I hope your ad dollars make it worth it, but you may want to advise your other advertisers that this commercial makes people leave!

March 30th 2012 and they still play a long long commercial, I switch the channel everytime so I hope your ad dollars are worth it Science channel, ie; discovery networks.

The dragon commercial is so annoying and overplayed. I thank the person who invented the mute button and the Remote!

I work at a major retail chain that sells this product, and I will make sure to discourage every customer that comes into the store looking to buy it. It's actually not that great to begin with, and these commercials really piss me off.

They stopped airing the long annoying thing for less than a month, but now they are back and I have to resort to muting again ...

I agree; I turn the channel at the first sign of the Dragon mini-infomercial and sometimes find somthing else to watch and forget to come back.

People are funny on here.

Aside from the endlessly annoying mini-infomercial which seems to have prompted most here, add insult to... insult, when you discover that, despite the vast improvements in silicon over the last ten years, speech recognition accuracy has not changed (in that same time span), continuing to linger a couple of decades shy of whole. Also, there *is* a 100% viable alternative to be found by googling "e-speaking" (to which, I must add, I have no connection, just a little experience).

I agree. This commercial is Just too long for it's own good. It's not a very good marketing scheme. Commercial is so lame I might add and that damn turtle looking nerd you have to look at throughout the whole commercial is just enough to make you completely change the channel and just watch something else. I wouldn't want to sit through that more than once. 5 minutes? Too long. It would've been better off doing a Billy May's style commercial for just under a minute. That would be probably be more cost effective. We should all just go to the website and post a complaint there and get a petition going so they can stfu with that damn commercial.

I, like the rest of you have never posted but I HATE their commercials that much that i was compelled to search for somewhere to post. I am going to stop watching TV altogether. Science, history, wherever its there.

Hear me Discovery Communications... When Dragon commercial comes on... I change the channel and Discovery goes OFF. Dragon ranks right up there as one of the most obnoxious commercials I have ever seen. There should be a time limit on commercials. Discovery should police itself. We pay for Discovery... I have a say!
We all ned to contact other Discovery Advertisers and tell them how we switch Discovery Off when dragon comes on.

DRAGON...your commercial is so damn annoying! I will never ever buy this software for that reason, in fact I will encourage people to hate on it. I HATE DRAGON! Next time you setup a commercial sit and watch your own ### a couple times and im sure you would agree with the rest of the world right before you take a screw driver to your temple.

@ The Fact Police: Sure, will do (NOT).

Anyway... another option for those interested is to post/complain on Facebook for the Science, Military and Discovery Networks pages. And of course the Dragon page as well.

The Dragon mini-infomercial is FIVE EFFING MINUTES LONG! And YES, I think that the company DESERVES to FAIL if it annoys its prospective client base to the point they a) mute the audio b) change channels and c) do not buy the product because the commercial annoys the bejeezus out of them!

And the endless repetition of the pitch just shows how LITTLE they think of the Windows users intelligence. Such disdain deserves to be rewarded with abject failure.

And maybe, just MAYBE, they could lower the price of the Mac version if they didn't have to pay for massive saturation media buys.

Oh, wait...that would be LOGICAL...and apparently LOGIC has NO place in the American marketplace any more.

BOYCOTT THIS PRODUCT!

When the commercial started, I fired up the computer, googled "Annoying Dragon Commercials" and found this, read quite a few comments, I'm now typing this sentence and the commercial is STILL ON. It's on sci fi, discovery, history - all over. It's so very annoying. Hopefully it'll dumb down after the Holidays - doubt it. I just cringe when it comes on. Sometimes I can't find the remote when it comes on and lose it, kick the dog, throw something, break it - this commercial is effecting my mental health.

I feel better - got to complain about it also.

@ The Fact Police: Not interested.

@The Fact Police: Irrelevant? I guess talk to the hand; you brought it up.

To make a commercial that long must mean that the producers think that viewers are as slow as they are. Evidently the software is for dummies. Congrats dragon for helping dumb down society. Maybe you should watch an hour long instructional video that'll show you how to make a 30sec commercial.

@The Fact Police: Actually, you are very incorrect in stating Discovery Networks only show these near-infomercials on off-peak hours.

@Scarabrae: Good idea.