Brain Pollution

I just want to say that I think advertising has become an epidemic. I think of it now as cognitive pollution. Advertising is people forcing me to look at and think about things I have no interest in. Millions of dollars are being spent developing ways to make sure that they are almost impossible to ignore. Web ads will flash, move, expand to the entire page, pop over videos that I'm watching or even yell things at me. A week or so ago some friends and I were mildly freaked out when, while sitting in a quiet bedroom we heard a sarcastic "Hell0-oo" come from seemingly nowhere. We eventually discovered that it was an internet ad, chiming from a laptop that had been left on.

Ads for video content make me want to wring necks too. I understand that media corporations are freaking out about copyright and profit and all, but when someone goes to your website, to look at your content do you think you could find some way to not annoy this shit out of us before we get to the stuff that we appreciate? The other day I was Stumbling (if you don't have it, get it now, but not if you have anything important to do) and found a video of a funny commercial that I wanted to watch. It started and I was immediately disappointed. This wasn't a funny commercial. This was a lame commercial I saw on tv all the time. Then I realized that I was watching a before-the-video ad. I had to watch a stupid commercial before I could watch the funny commercial because that's how twisted the world is.

Television ads are no better. This is where the big bucks are going and it shows. In case you haven't noticed, they are LOUD. I mean LOUD. On my tv, about five to seven volume points louder than the programs loud. My favorite commercial to hate right now is this clean coal ad.

The jarring, grating buzz at the end is absolutely uncalled for. Not only is it cringeworthy, it cuts across all conversations or other activity that happen to be going on at the time. So if you think you are going to talk to your family during a commercial break, or do some work for a few minutes. Wrong. You are watching the god d*mn commercials whether you like it or not.

I'm not sure if the super-obvious advertising is the worst part. What about the subliminal kind? When I say subliminal I'm not talking about secret messages that are going to make you hear things, I'm talking about subtle advertising that the average person won't notice, but will ultimately take in. Things like product placement in movies and shows. You think that it was written into the script that your favorite hero just fucking loves Pepsi? Right. Then there are "affiliations" where companies will endorse each other. I got my hair cut yesterday and had five offers to buy a particular brand of hair product. Five. From a real live person, who is being paid by someone who is being paid by someone who really wants me to buy it. I know personally musicians who are paid to endorse brands of instruments and the same goes for athletes. They didn't think that brand of cymbals was the best before, but now every kid they teach they recommend the second best.

What IS this? One of the hottest commodities in America is my attention. Millions, possibly billions of dollars are being put into development, research and distribution of ads that will be the most likely to make me look at them. If attention IS a hot commodity it is being stolen.

and that's not cool