Advertising

[Tipdin]

I am surrounded by and inundated with advertising nearly every waking moment. They crawl along the edges of Internet pages, they pop up in my emails, I get them on my cell phone, they are interrupted by TV shows, they fall out of magazines, they fill up my snail mailbox, and recently, they were the humiliating uniforms for some poor unfortunate employees. The oil changing joint down the street behaved like a pimp, sending their employees out to the street corners to try enticing passing drivers!

 

When I log onto Yahoo to get mail, I know the entire page is covered with an ad for something. No clue what it's for - I don't notice it anymore. There's where my question comes in: Do you even notice anymore what ads your being bombarded with?

 

I can watch a TV commercial and have no idea what was being sold! It's like my brain filters out all that crap, so companies spend billions to get my attention and it's not working. The only TV commercial I can remember is where some handsome guy named Billy was yelling at me to buy this AMAZING product, it was a type of cleaning product - which I had been using for years! His yelling was so irritating that I quit using it!

 

So? Advertising - notice or not?

Edited November 13, 2010 by Tipdin

[Greedya]

So? Advertising - notice or not?

 

At least you notice search advertising, and more subtly, search engine optimisation. When you search, you are looking for something that matches your interest in that moment. So search is platform that naturally gives a high propensity to buy. You don't filter out ads in search as much as ads in mass media.

 

I'm surprised you didn't complain about telemarketing.

[Tipdin]

At least you notice search advertising, and more subtly, search engine optimisation. When you search, you are looking for something that matches your interest in that moment. So search is platform that naturally gives a high propensity to buy. You don't filter out ads in search as much as ads in mass media.

 

I'm surprised you didn't complain about telemarketing.

I don't get much telemarketing at home or on my cell - I religiously call the DO NOT CALL list line so that my numbers are prohibited from being targeted. It works fairly well. Any telemarketers that get thru, get hung up on.

 

I just wondered if other people delete, ignore, or side-step ads without ever knowing what was being advertised. It has become ridiculously invasive.

[TetRefine]

Welcome to the modern world. Isn't it great!

[MikeL]

When I log onto Yahoo to get mail, I know the entire page is covered with an ad for something. No clue what it's for - I don't notice it anymore. There's where my question comes in: Do you even notice anymore what ads your being bombarded with?

 

I can watch a TV commercial and have no idea what was being sold! It's like my brain filters out all that crap, so companies spend billions to get my attention and it's not working. The only TV commercial I can remember is where some handsome guy named Billy was yelling at me to buy this AMAZING product, it was a type of cleaning product - which I had been using for years! His yelling was so irritating that I quit using it!

 

So? Advertising - notice or not?

 

I'm with you here. I remember funny or entertaining TV commercials, but ninety-nine times out of ten I can't remember who was advertising what. As for the billions spent on advertising, those are not the companies' billions; they are your billions. The companies with the largest advertising budgets are the ones with the most expensive products. Think about it: They have to charge a higher price to provide funds for advertising. Other, unadvertised products are often just as good.

 

I don't get much telemarketing at home or on my cell - I religiously call the DO NOT CALL list line so that my numbers are prohibited from being targeted. It works fairly well. Any telemarketers that get thru, get hung up on.

 

I just wondered if other people delete, ignore, or side-step ads without ever knowing what was being advertised. It has become ridiculously invasive.

The national and state do not call lists are a great aid. It's unfortunate that political campaigns and charities aren't also prohibited from calling those on the lists; they can be real pests. If a telemarketer does get through, I don't hang up. I inform them that I am on the do not call list and that I will report them if they ever call again. As for politicians and charities, it probably does no good, but I ask them to take my name off their calling list.

 

I get no telemarketing calls on my cell phone because I religiously never give the number to anyone unless I really want to hear from them.

Edited November 13, 2010 by MikeL

[TrevorTime]

Ever since I got a DVR, it changes the way I watch TV. Don't even know what an ad is anymore. That's what the fast forward button is for.

[phana14]

Ever since I got a DVR, it changes the way I watch TV. Don't even know what an ad is anymore. That's what the fast forward button is for.

 

Or in my case the *mute* button! I have even put a dollop of white paint over the word "mute" so that no matter the lighting conditions, I can hit it at about the same time as a commercial starts.

 

That notwithstanding, my total exposure to tv is the few minutes I'm waiting for the local weather--hence the mute situation.

 

Great question, Mr. Tipdin!

[Cia]

I have to agree with Trevor. I don't even watch commercials on my own shows anymore. And I detest all the toy adverts my kids get to see. Talk about bringing on a case of the 'gimmies.'

[Nephylim]

As far as paper advertising is concerned it goes straight into the bin without even a glance. If I can tell from the envelope it is likely to be something unimportant I don't even open it. I mean even my bank is offering 'sales' wtf.

 

Telephone advertising doesn't work because I NEVER answer my landline. I figure that if it's anyone who knows me the'll ring my mobile and if it isn't then who cares. If someone leaves a voicemail I eventually get back to them... when I remember to listen. SO it's a case of if you don't know my mobile number you're pretty screwed.

 

TV advertising gets totally filtered out. I very rarely watch and if I do I don't really notice, they're just annoyances. I dont think I have EVER bought anything just because I've seen it on TV.

 

Ads do serve one useful purpose in our house though. I have one of those incredibly unusual children who hardly ever ask for anything. Ef is weird. If offered a bowl of sweets or a plate with pumpkin brownies on them he asks first how many he is allowed to ask and then religiously only takes that much. When asked what he wants for Christmas or his Birthday he inevitably respods... just anything. Soooo when we watch Christmas adverts we make a list of anything he would quite like and then I choose of that for Christmas and Birthday. Simples

 

 

[Tipdin]

I live in a rather small neighborhood of rowhouses, where there are large collective mailboxes in just a few places. The homeowner where my mailbox is, has become something of a local hero. They put a trash bin next to the mailbox, and it is FILLED by the time the trash collectors come around. Most of my mail doesn't even make it to my house anymore!

 

I wish I could somehow delete the ads on my computer screen. I don't notice them much anymore, but every now and then, I see one flashing or going crazy, trying to get my attention. Those are the products I will boycott.

[soup]

Download TV. Throw out junk mail. Hang up on telemarketers. Use Adblock Pro for the interwebs.

 

And thus, i am blissfully unaware of most advertisting. However the billions they spend mean that i can't ignore absolutely everything and usually the ones that slip through my filter(s) are the ones i'm glad have slipped through...like the Old Spice ads O.O

[x Trevor x]

Ever since I got a DVR, it changes the way I watch TV. Don't even know what an ad is anymore. That's what the fast forward button is for.

 

I love the DVR for many reasons! I don't even watch live television anymore. I always go through the guide and check any and every movie that I want to watch. So everytime I want to watch tv there is always something that I want to see. The fast forward is very handy for ads. I always fast forward through them.

 

I use to hate commercials. Television and junk mail was the ads that always bothered me the most and the DVR eliminated one of those problems.

 

As for internet ads? I may or may not at least glance at them, just to see what they say if I look at all but none of them ever interest me unless it's a fast food joint advertising a good deal. Email advertising bothers me to no end.

[Lugh]

I stopped getting email averts a while back when I started dumping my spam folder back on the people sending me spam... now I only get a few a week

I guess they don't like spam as much as I don't...

[x Trevor x]

I stopped getting email averts a while back when I started dumping my spam folder back on the people sending me spam... now I only get a few a week

I guess they don't like spam as much as I don't...

 

Creative way of dealing with it.

[Tipdin]

I stopped getting email averts a while back when I started dumping my spam folder back on the people sending me spam... now I only get a few a week

I guess they don't like spam as much as I don't...

Tell us how to do that! (Tipdin jumps up and down, all excited.)

Edited November 20, 2010 by Tipdin