I have a love-hate relationship with my LG C2 OLED TV. But for the most part, I've grown to accept that which I cannot change. Its price, for example, was exorbitant at $1,249, but I've tried to think about that price as an investment. Buy now, enjoy for many years, I think. It's the best OLED TV, I tell myself.
Then, I got frustrated by how reflective the LG C2 is. Those thoughts I've been able to tune out by turning off as many lights as I can (but I'm still googling options for blackout curtains). Most recently? Well, I did a deep-dive on the weird mixed messages LG's sending about preventing burn-in on the LG C2.
But, still, LG keeps reminding me about the one other thing I would fix if I could. The flaw is disguised as a feature, and makes me wish I was the kind of person who had the skills to fix things you're not meant to fix. Because as good as the LG C2 is, it's always there to remind me how I'm still "the product."
Meet the LG C2 OLED's terrible notifications.
The LG C2 OLED feels like a spambot
Turning on the LG C2 repeatedly tests my tolerance with its "Special Offers," akin to an Amazon Fire tablet or Kindle.
These notifications aren't for anything important like software updates. No, they're much more frivolous. Like the message that I just got spammed with to "Enjoy Your At-Home Workout with an AI trailer. (Limited-time Special Offer!)", or messages about the random free movies that LG's offering (sorry, Ace Ventura, I'm not picking up, even When Nature Calls).
Or whatever the heck the Les Mills+ workouts are.
We may be fortunate enough to live in an era of fantastic tech (provided you're able to afford it), but it's also led to the normalization of ubiquitous notifications that nobody asked for. But most companies let you disable or curtail the deluge.
Hulu, for example, offers an ad-free tier, which is useful for when you're binge-watching a show and get tired of seeing that one insurance company mascot. Apple's self-promotional notifications for its own shows in the TV app can be disabled when you disable the TV app's notifications. You can pay Amazon to take the aforementioned ads off of the lock screens of its tablets and e-readers.
LG's fantastic TVs, however? They'll always serve you ads. Checking the Notifications screen, I can show you the last seven I received. You'll notice that at least one is duplicative, which is even less helpful:
And looking at all of this, just makes me think that LG is knowingly creating an admittedly sad experience. Being served ads — and that's what these are — is nobody's idea of fun. Just remember the first Black Mirror episode, if you want an over-the-top example of that.
Someone — possibly LG — save me
Sure, I could just turn off my TV's access to the internet to disable this spam, but then I wouldn't be able to get system updates, which could actually be helpful. I could just hope I hear about valuable must-have system updates, but I don't like to leave that up to chance.
So, I'm using my platform at Tom's Guide to beg LG to give me a way to stop this nonsense. I'll pay, I swear. I pay for YouTube Premium, to remove ads there. Just give me an option.
And if they don't? Can some industrious person out there give me a tip I haven't figured out, and one that doesn't violate my warranty?
