Electronics firm Samsung is flooding an entire advert break with three-and-a-half minutes of a washing machine spinning round.
Britain’s longest-ever ad will make its one and only appearance in a commercial break during Channel 4 show Gogglebox on Friday night.
The ‘hypnotic’ footage is intended to highlight how Brits drain their lives away by waiting to complete everyday household tasks.
The average Brit wastes 88,904 minutes – 62 days – watchingtheir washing go round and round, a new study by the firm reveals.
Samsung says its unique 200 second-long, uninterrupted footage of a family wash during Channel 4 hit Gogglebox will ‘mesmerise’ millions of viewers on Friday night
In the time wasted waiting for their laundry, they could instead learn a musical instrument like the piano to Grade 5 or become fluent in a foreign language, researchers say.
While each individual household wait may be only a matter of minutes, the cumulative loss amounts to huge chunks of time, researchers led by leading statistician Dr Geoff Ellis found.
By surveying 2,000 UK adults about their weekly waits they discovered that we typically lose 312 hours – 13 whole days – per year waiting for things to finish in the home.
It all adds up to an astonishing 820 days – or two and a quarter years – of waiting over a lifetime.
The advert – the longest ever single shot ad aired in the UK – isintended to highlight how Brits let their lives drain away – waiting to complete everyday household tasks
The worst waits across a lifetime are for phones to charge (135 days) and post to arrive (85 days), they found.
Phone queues (57 days), computer and phone updates (54 days), ovens heating (45 days), tumble driers finishing (44 days) and water boiling (41 days) are also tedious time-wasters.
Dishwasher cycles waste 41 days, downloading box sets and microwaves heating food each take 36 days and baths filling with water goes on for 31 days.
Other dull, domestic waits include for heating or air con to come on (30 days), Wi-Fi to connect, the boiler to heat water (each 29 days), toilet cisterns to re-fill (27 days), mirrors to demist (21 days) and toast to pop up (20 days).
Brits are most bored of phone queues, cited by 39 per cent of the 2,000 adults surveyed.
While each individual household wait may be only a matter of minutes, the cumulative loss amounts to huge chunks of time,
Next come computer or phone updates (35 per cent), followed by waiting for kettles to boil (32 per cent).
Almost as irritating are the waits for ovens to reach the right temperature (26 per cent); microwaves to ping (25 per cent); phones to charge (25 per cent) and washing machine cycles to finish (22 per cent).
Completing the top ten pet hate waits are toasters and baths (each 21 per cent) and the arrival of post (20 per cent).
The research was commissioned to mark the launch of the Samsung Quick Drive, which completes Samsung says completes its wash cycle in 66 minutes – faster than most machines.
Friday’s arresting ad features the new machine while displaying the hashtag #LifesTooShort.
The research was commissioned to mark the launch of the Samsung Quick Drive,which the company says completes its cycle quicker than typical washing machines
Mark Seaman, Samsung’s head of domestic appliances, said: ‘It is eye-opening to see how much of our lives slip down the drain as we hang around waiting for things to finish around the home.
‘QuickDrive is the fastest and smartest Samsung washing machine ever made and this commercial shines a spotlight on the performance of the machine itself to create a mesmerising spectacle where art meets technology.
Pete Clark, Channel 4’s agency principal, said: ‘Dedicating an entire ad break to showcasing nothing but the new QuickDrive in action will deliver good clean entertainment for Channel 4 viewers.’