Today’s guest, David Showell, vents about some particularly horrible TV ads. Enter David:

Whether we like it or not, the presence of advertisements on our TV screens is something we all have to put up with. The vast majority of television networks would be unable to survive without advertising revenue, so we the viewing public simply have to come to terms with the ads.

Having said that, the ads themselves can be particularly irritating at times. Here are four types of TV adverts that most of us could do without.

4. Injury lawyer ads

Over the past decade or more, these ads have become something of a permanent fixture on our screens, especially during the daytime. They generally feature a poorly-made recreation of an accident, followed by a reassurance that compensation isn’t far away. In some cases they feature what are claimed to be real law specialists, although they might just be real actors plucked from the unemployment lines, telling us we deserve justice, and they know how to help us to find it.

3. Short-term loan ads

These adverts are perhaps a symbol of a world in recession; they are designed to appeal to the weak and the desperate, and will often show people (i.e. actors) who are so in need of a quick cash injection that they fail to notice the 1,000%-plus interest rates. The ads present the loans as a solution to everyone’s ills, although they don’t really show the long-term effects of having to pay high interest repayments over the coming months and years, partly because most people wouldn’t touch these loans with a barge-pole under normal circumstances.

2. Car insurance ads

Strictly speaking, these ads are for car insurance comparison sites rather than the actual products themselves. They are featured, it seems, in almost every ad break in every show on every day, and they can become extremely irritating over a period of a few minutes, let alone a few months. Whether they feature cuddly little animals or ubiquitous opera singers who turn up unannounced and uninvited, they must surely be successful because they are always on our TVs from morning through till night.

1. Buy your gold ads

If you’ve got some old jewellery in your home and perhaps you’re desperate for a quick buck, these nice people will buy your precious trinkets for a fraction of its true value. All you need to do is send it to them in a special envelope and wait for an offer – it’s that simple. Of course, it’s not as simple as taking the items to your local jeweller for a free evaluation, but they’re unlikely to tell you that, aren’t they?

David Showell lives in England and tries to avoid daytime TV. He works for 121carhire.com.