Ads on TV I get. Well, I don't actually 'get' them, because mostly I use that time to put things away, go to the bathroom, or channel surf. And, of course, when I've recorded the program I'm watching, the fast forward button is my best friend.
Ads on billboards I get, but again, I'm usually too busy watching the road or too focused on getting to my destination to actually notice them.
Ads in the paper I get, but for the most part, I don't read them either. In fact, as a result of my days delivering the paper, when advertising inclusions were at the max - Christmas, Fathers Day, Easter, 'just because' day - and each paper was equivalent in weight to a house brick, I began to develop an aversion to advertising and have turned a mostly blind eye ever since.
Ads on radio I get, except they seem to meld with the concerts and conversations and I honestly don't notice them.
I even get ads on the Internet - and shut them down as quickly as I can.
So, yes, I get it. Ads are here to stay, apparently necessary for our survival, and always trying to sell you something, from products and fast money techniques, to ideas and opinions. I accept them and will deal with them as suits the occasion.
However, after visiting my beloved Sydney Morning Herald today, I think I've hit ad overload. Not only do the ads pop out unexpectedly from the side, hover at the top of the page, and fill every other nook and cranny, but now, when clicking on some articles, we have to choose which of three ads to watch before the item we really want to see comes into view. And if we don't choose, they will for us, and then won't permit us to fast forward them into oblivion.
Up till now, I've been reasonably willing to sit idly by as ads happened to me, but now I'm expected to be involved in the selection. Which would be fine if there was actually an ad I was interested in, but sadly, that is usually not the case.
Okay, yes, over the years, I, too, have embraced the advertising medium to promote stuff, so I get it's value in many instances. And yes, there are some very clever and effective ads out there that grab one's attention and stick in one's mind, subliminally or otherwise.
However, a lot of it is advertising purely for the sake of it - i.e., annoying and silly, irrelevant and in poor taste, stereotypical and superficial, and meaningless, counterproductive and frustrating.
All I'm saying is that if we have to put up with ads on the information highway, then when we have to choose something, could we at least be allowed to choose "neither" when that is what we really want?
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