Should advertising be banned? (1340 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 0.3 on 70 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by shandythedog (View user info) at 2008-05-21 03:06:13 EDT
Do most people think that the world would be a better place without advertising? Or do most people imagine that a world without advertising would somehow be colder and greyer?
What would happen to the economy if all advertising (apart from registering product and service information in factual directories) was banned?
Presumably the impact would be staggering. Advertising seems to underpin just about everything. And yet what good does it actually do us?
There is also the civil liberty question - although nobody complained much about the ban on cigarette advertising.
User Reviews
Submitted by Director (user info) at 2008-05-24 20:15:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by peacenik_in_hell (user info) at 2008-05-23 14:46:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
grapefruit.
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2008-05-23 07:18:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by PMN (user info) at 2008-05-22 16:44:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I was almost ready to disagree with you but your point on noone missing cigarette ads is a very good point.
Submitted by PepsiCoke (user info) at 2008-05-22 16:00:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by DeathJester (user info) at 2008-05-22 12:59:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Advertising is banned.
That's what NoScript, AdBlockPlus, and free choice are for.
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What part or parts of the brain dictate free will?
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2008-05-22 15:43:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
I'm ok with that,'pollo - as long as they aren't gross... as defined by me.
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2008-05-22 15:18:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
i think all ads should have to be funny.
as defined by me.
Submitted by DeathJester (user info) at 2008-05-22 12:59:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Advertising is banned.
That's what NoScript, AdBlockPlus, and free choice are for.
Submitted by sexualchocolate1984 (user info) at 2008-05-22 10:30:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Heatwhore -2.
I think we should do away with capitalism, then advertising will naturally disappear too.
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2008-05-22 09:47:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2008-05-21 10:19:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Herpes (user info) at 2008-05-21 02:31:09 CDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Ad dollars pay for almost all broadcasts. Without ads, there would be no television, no sports programming, no good radio shows, and in all likelyhood, no free entertainment.
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Truth.
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Lobbying. There's something we could definately do without. Someone do a post about that. It'll go heated.
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Heh. Scourge, I believe this one is all yours?
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nah...lobbying and the marketing/advertisement industry are essentially the same thing anyway, difference is just in the target audience.
Submitted by Sphagnum (user info) at 2008-05-22 03:10:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I certainly respect the fact that you asked questions rather than making assumptions, Indo.
Now you can formulate an opinion based on my response rather than shooting off at the mouth like that other fuckwit did.
Submitted by Sphagnum (user info) at 2008-05-22 03:08:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2008-05-21 22:17:01 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Sphagnum (user info) at 2008-05-21 03:19:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Interesting Question...
I can safely say that I wouldn't miss it if it disappeared. I never make any decisions based on advertising.
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So you always buy the exact same products and go to the exact same restaurant eat the exact same food and drink the exact same booze? No I don't. If people with no invested interest recommend something based on their opinion and I decide to try it, is that me being influenced by advertising?
If you are looking for a place to live do you look in places that are advertising apts/houses or just wander around aimlessly until you find one? I rang a real estate, told them what I wanted to buy, went out and looked at several places and ultimately bought one.
Unless you live in a cave advertising does play a part in how you shop. You may not blow your load over every new gadget/consumable out there, but to a degree it shapes what you buy. How? I buy what I need/want. Refer back to the previous question. Advertising is not the only way to find out about things. Sure, advertising may have lead them to it but that is purely speculation as well.
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No I don't. If people with no invested interest recommend something based on their opinion and I decide to try it, is that me being influenced by advertising?
I rang a real estate, told them what I wanted to buy, went out and looked at several places and ultimately bought one.
How? I buy what I need/want. I don't sit around waiting for some voice over to tell me I need something. Believe it or not, I'm actually smart enough to work that out for myself. Refer back to the previous question. Advertising is not the only way to find out about things. Sure, advertising may have lead them to it but that is purely speculation as well.
Submitted by Sphagnum (user info) at 2008-05-22 02:59:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by ICO (user info) at 2008-05-21 20:56:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by Sphagnum (user info) at 2008-05-21 03:19:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Interesting Question...
I can safely say that I wouldn't miss it if it disappeared. I never make any decisions based on advertising.
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Biggest bullshit in the world award goes to Sphagnum, for his 'I never make any decisions based on advertising' statement! *crowd cheering*
If you didn't see any ads ever, you'd only know what the shops you actually frequent often and browse through completely sell, and what your friends and family tell you about.
Furthermore, most of the decisions you make on which brand to buy are at least partially subconscious, so getting the Coca Cola bottle off the shelf even though it cost more and is not all that good anyway compared to cheaper brands isn't a decision that needs be done after checking all the other brands for flavour.
While it might be that you're one of those people that réally only go after familiar products, I highly doubt that, and I wish you luck standing up there on your Marketing-Untouchable pedestal.
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You make alot of assumptions there, kiddo. I guess the crowd that's cheering is that of the yellow helmet variety.
a) I don't go shopping. Shopping is for Women and I'm not one of those. So that was a misfire.
b) I don't drink coke or any other kind of fizzy shit. I drink the same beer all the time regardless of the cost because I like the taste of it. There could be an add showing it disolving someone's aorta overnight and I'd still drink it. Apart from that, my beverage of choice is water and I would drink that out of a puddle if I had too.
c)I'm not on any pedestal dipshit. Learn to fucking read. I didn't say advertising is right or wrong or that I can't name products from jingles etc. What I said if you cared to listen, you fucking ignorant retard, is that "I wouldn't miss it and that I don't make decisions based on advertising (i.e Impulse decisions)".
Analyse something else about me based totally on speculation. You read me like a book this time, let's see whether you can nail it again, cockhead.
Submitted by PepsiCoke (user info) at 2008-05-22 02:17:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by X54 (user info) at 2008-05-22 00:34:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Advertising is an inevitable consequense of a consumer based society. It runs counter to the Buddhist dogma of achieving happiness through not wanting. The effect of such an ideology, if rigidly adhered to and widespread, would be disastrous for our economy. We need advertising to combat that sort of thinking.
"Marketing," I've been told, "is the art of convincing people to buy stuff they don't need with money they don't have to impress people who don't care." Which sounds to me like it's pretty much diametrically opposed to Buddhism.
But would you really rather be a Buddhist? Do you have any idea how boring that must be? They're hardly alive. Except for lighting themselves up during certain protests. That would be exciting.
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Because you can't just be against advertising without being a Buddhist.
Buddhists don't like advertisements
I don't like advertisements
Therefore
I am a Buddhist
The economy is gay.
Submitted by PepsiCoke (user info) at 2008-05-22 02:12:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by iddqd (user info) at 2008-05-21 22:39:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
most of you sound like those douchebags who go to a hypotisers show, making big claims about how theyre too mentally strong to fall under his/her 'spell', then promptly fall off right away.
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Fuck no! Advertising certainly does work, and I would never say that I'm immune to it. I try my best to avoid the influence but I sure as hell don't always succeed. It's precisely because advertising works so well that it is so harmful.
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2008-05-22 01:20:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
i wish there was advertising to prevent me from clicking on your posts.
Submitted by X54 (user info) at 2008-05-22 00:34:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Advertising is an inevitable consequense of a consumer based society. It runs counter to the Buddhist dogma of achieving happiness through not wanting. The effect of such an ideology, if rigidly adhered to and widespread, would be disastrous for our economy. We need advertising to combat that sort of thinking.
"Marketing," I've been told, "is the art of convincing people to buy stuff they don't need with money they don't have to impress people who don't care." Which sounds to me like it's pretty much diametrically opposed to Buddhism.
But would you really rather be a Buddhist? Do you have any idea how boring that must be? They're hardly alive. Except for lighting themselves up during certain protests. That would be exciting.
Submitted by Phallic_Cymbals (user info) at 2008-05-22 00:04:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
No, i don't think so.
Submitted by iddqd (user info) at 2008-05-21 22:39:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
the sheer naivety of people astounds me.
advertising exists because it works. most of these ad companies have teams of marketing researchers and psychologists sitting around, working out ways to get jingles stuck in your head, to make sure you see their brand here and there in the right places, at the right times, when your subconscious is most receptive, so as to sow links in your mind between product a and emotion/activity/response b.
most of you sound like those douchebags who go to a hypotisers show, making big claims about how theyre too mentally strong to fall under his/her 'spell', then promptly fall off right away.
anyway, in short - youre all deluded morons, and im the only sane person left in this fucking world.
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2008-05-21 20:28:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
hmm.. i'd be half out of a job. so that would suck
Submitted by PepsiCoke (user info) at 2008-05-21 20:18:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2008-05-21 14:00:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Is a prerequisite of joining you in sexual congress the administration of a wide strip of duct tape across your flapping gums?
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A person's gums are actually inside the mouth, so taping them wouldn't keep the mouth closed, if that was what you were going for.
My butthole lips will be wide open for you, though. Fuck my sphincter, Jack.
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2008-05-21 19:07:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Yes. Then, I could quit my job.
Submitted by Banjo (user info) at 2008-05-21 15:26:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Ban it, then I wouldn't spend so much money and then I wouldn't be skint all the time, I could afford to buy a house in the coutry and then I wouldn't have a flat full of useless shit I never use and then my mum wouldn't come rond and recommend I go buy some more useless crap like cushions or new gadgets (which I'm addicted to) or impulse buy shoes or that new computer game I just have to have or.... and on and on and on.
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2008-05-21 14:43:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I think ads for prescription drugs, especially those that treat made-up conditions like "Restless Leg Syndrome," should be pulled from TV. Big Pharm is out of control.
All other TV ads are OK though. I mean I don't love them, but that's what Tivo is for. As far as other forms of advertising are concerned, I am well-practiced at ignoring them. If you're too weak-willed to resist the siren song of ads, perhaps you should be banned.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2008-05-21 14:00:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by PepsiCoke (user info) at 2008-05-21 13:41:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Yes, ban it all. People see advertisements as necessary because they fund our entertainment, and for some reason they think entertainment will no longer exist without ads.
Any good that comes from advertisement is rare and incidental. It's almost universally destructive to culture, social progress, and individual development. If corporate greed is a main root of society's ills, then advertisement is a nourishing protective buffer for that root.
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Is a prerequisite of joining you in sexual congress the administration of a wide strip of duct tape across your flapping gums?
Submitted by PepsiCoke (user info) at 2008-05-21 13:41:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Yes, ban it all. People see advertisements as necessary because they fund our entertainment, and for some reason they think entertainment will no longer exist without ads.
Any good that comes from advertisement is rare and incidental. It's almost universally destructive to culture, social progress, and individual development. If corporate greed is a main root of society's ills, then advertisement is a nourishing protective buffer for that root.
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2008-05-21 10:19:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Herpes (user info) at 2008-05-21 02:31:09 CDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Ad dollars pay for almost all broadcasts. Without ads, there would be no television, no sports programming, no good radio shows, and in all likelyhood, no free entertainment.
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Truth.
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Lobbying. There's something we could definately do without. Someone do a post about that. It'll go heated.
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Heh. Scourge, I believe this one is all yours?
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2008-05-21 09:58:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Advertising is useful in that it informs, but far too often that information is contained in some annoying package designed to stick to the surface of the smoothest of brains. As, I imagine, have most people, I have made the concious choice to avoid a few products with exceptionally stupid advertising. Budweiser, Taco Bell, OxyClean, the Clapper, and George Foreman, I'm talking to you.
On the other hand, I ate at Ying's Chinee Takee Outee in Jacksonville just because of the sign, so even I am vulnerable to the smooth-brain approach.
http://www.ratpackcycles.com/Yings.JPG
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2008-05-21 09:54:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DRUG_ADVERTISEMENTS_SIDE_EFFECTS?SITE=WWLAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
that link there is part of what i was getting at with the pros/cons part of commercials.
pretend below i said im making No sense instead of SO sense. i am apppear to am be retarded this morning today.
Submitted by The_Drake (user info) at 2008-05-21 09:46:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I agree with assholy in principle, but if there is a person who will actually believe that using a specific soap, for instance, will make his or her family happy, then they kind of deserve to be taken advantage of. People, for the most part, are dumb sheep who will respond to red on a yellow background better than the truth.
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2008-05-21 09:45:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
like i was kind of saying earlier, next time you watch a lunesta commercial watch that little bug fly around while they zip through the side effects -- tell me that gives you an accurate idea of what the pros and cons of that product are? those are only the ones they're forced to tell you, anyway.
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again i make so sense. the CONS they tell you in the commercial are the cons the government has forced them to make you aware of. and even when they do, they do it in a way that is distracting so that you dont catch all those problems anyway
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2008-05-21 09:41:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
of course you can buy whatever you want, based on whatever criteria are important to you. i'm not debating that. what i'm saying is advertisements on tv have become 30-second sitcoms and dont really do anything but make the product exciting. like i was kind of saying earlier, next time you watch a lunesta commercial watch that little bug fly around while they zip through the side effects -- tell me that gives you an accurate idea of what the pros and cons of that product are? those are only the ones they're forced to tell you, anyway.
commercials are basically the filter between what a product is and what we see it to be. we watch a detergent commercial that features a soccer playing little kid frowning about the grass stains on his jersey, and in a heroic effort to reverse this injustice, his mother pours tide on the jersey, and then when she pulls it out of the dryer she holds it up and beams at it in admiration, and then the kid takes one quick look at it, hugs the mom, and they both start laughing and smiling and then the dad (who is also laughing jovially) runs up with the dog on a leash, and the dog comes up and licks everybody's face and they laugh and laugh because THEY ARE A HAPPY FAMILY WHO USE TIDE!!! THE MESSAGE IS CLEAR HAPPY FAMILIES USE TIDE
It's just detergent. Detergent doesn't make a family happy. Maybe soccer is a unifier in that family, maybe the mother just finished smoking a bowl, or maybe they are getting paid money to be so good looking - i dont know what it is that makes that family so happy but i guarantee it's not the detergent they used, and over the course of the commercial you dont learn anything about the product except that it does what detergent is supposed to do. that type of advertisement could disappear and all that would happen is you'd fail to recognize the brand name so easily.
i'm not saying advertisements should be gone completely, because i dont care one way or the other (and despite what it seems, i dont have some sort of pathological vendetta against detergent companies...i just put some laundry in and it was the first thing i thought of). but IF advertisements were to change, they could probably cut through that bullshit and show us the who what when where why and how of the product rather than OMGOSH THAT FAMILY IS JUST SO FUCKING HAPPY
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2008-05-21 09:32:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
If you're stupid enough to buy something based on an advertisement, then you deserve it.
Or something like that. I hope you know what I mean, because I have no idea.
Submitted by The_Drake (user info) at 2008-05-21 09:16:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I work in advertising and it is evil.
This sums up my advertising experience: http://www.ubersite.com/m/109684
Submitted by MudWhistle (user info) at 2008-05-21 08:36:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Assholy....I was going to comment on your review. YOu can't operate under the assumption that everyone is poor or that choosing one product over another is pointless. As someone with the money to buy whatever laundry detergent I want....I have the right to choose based on whatever criteria I prefer be it smell or the companies environmental associates or what have you. Advertising is the media that tells me the product is out there...and should be used to that extent...where you go from there is up to you.
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2008-05-21 08:32:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
yeah, what bamf said. my review made no sense i think. i've been having problems making sense of these voices in my head lately.
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2008-05-21 08:30:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2008-05-21 08:17:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Sphagnum (user info) at 2008-05-21 03:19:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Interesting Question...
I can safely say that I wouldn't miss it if it disappeared. I never make any decisions based on advertising.
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So you always buy the exact same products and go to the exact same restaurant eat the exact same food and drink the exact same booze?
If you are looking for a place to live do you look in places that are advertising apts/houses or just wander around aimlessly until you find one?
Unless you live in a cave advertising does play a part in how you shop. You may not blow your load over every new gadget/consumable out there, but to a degree it shapes what you buy.
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sure, to a degree. but, for instance, all tv commercials do is help you with product or brand recognition, whether it's detergent or attorneys. personally, i know that because im broke and all that shit gets my clothes clean, i dont buy the detergent i see on tv. i buy the one with the cheapest price tag. i honestly couldnt tell you what brand of detergent i have right now but i know it's blue and comes in a blue bottle, and it isn't tide or rain or mist or whatever else.
also, in the opposite way, i would never hire an attorney i see on tv.
the point is we can do without those ads. if we operate on word of mouth alone then maybe we wont have to waste time passing laws that say medicine tv commercials arent allowed to distract us with flying bees anymore when they tell us about the side effects of the drug.
Submitted by MudWhistle (user info) at 2008-05-21 08:28:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
what I meant to say is that banning of advertising is essentially saying people are or admitting that we are too dumb to make our own conclusions about things. How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?
Submitted by MudWhistle (user info) at 2008-05-21 08:22:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I don't think so, rather people should just be smarter. Advertising, in a pure form, provides us with some of the necessary information we need to make decisions its just the person that stops at the advertising as opposed to researching more information that is the problem. To ban advertising would be another way to dumb up the world.
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2008-05-21 08:17:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Sphagnum (user info) at 2008-05-21 03:19:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Interesting Question...
I can safely say that I wouldn't miss it if it disappeared. I never make any decisions based on advertising.
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So you always buy the exact same products and go to the exact same restaurant eat the exact same food and drink the exact same booze?
If you are looking for a place to live do you look in places that are advertising apts/houses or just wander around aimlessly until you find one?
Unless you live in a cave advertising does play a part in how you shop. You may not blow your load over every new gadget/consumable out there, but to a degree it shapes what you buy.
Submitted by woolfe (user info) at 2008-05-21 07:57:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
yes
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2008-05-21 07:12:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
lol @ orph :)
Submitted by orph (user info) at 2008-05-21 07:01:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
yeah thats the one - they're both going to lose and then award the trophy to arsenal for being the best.
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2008-05-21 06:59:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Arsenal play tonight? Who?
Any match other than Man Utd v Chelsea pales into insignificance.
Submitted by ICO (user info) at 2008-05-21 06:56:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by Sphagnum (user info) at 2008-05-21 03:19:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Interesting Question...
I can safely say that I wouldn't miss it if it disappeared. I never make any decisions based on advertising.
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Biggest bullshit in the world award goes to Sphagnum, for his 'I never make any decisions based on advertising' statement! *crowd cheering*
If you didn't see any ads ever, you'd only know what the shops you actually frequent often and browse through completely sell, and what your friends and family tell you about.
Furthermore, most of the decisions you make on which brand to buy are at least partially subconscious, so getting the Coca Cola bottle off the shelf even though it cost more and is not all that good anyway compared to cheaper brands isn't a decision that needs be done after checking all the other brands for flavour.
While it might be that you're one of those people that réally only go after familiar products, I highly doubt that, and I wish you luck standing up there on your Marketing-Untouchable pedestal.
Submitted by orph (user info) at 2008-05-21 06:55:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Arsenal for the win tonight - it will happen.
I've got a lcd monitor for the ps3 so I suppose that could get tv - i'll check it out. Soon my place will be full of stuff I don't need.
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2008-05-21 06:54:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Oh yeah, COME ON YOU REDS!!!
Submitted by shandythedog (user info) at 2008-05-21 06:54:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
i rather like the piracy add they have in australia
it's got a driving soundtrack and a theme about stealing
or rather, i liked it the first time i saw it.
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2008-05-21 06:54:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Orph, you are so New Age. :)
Submitted by orph (user info) at 2008-05-21 06:53:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
I suppose so, but I don't have a tv, so I only get exposed at the pub when watching the football.
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2008-05-21 06:53:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
FJ, that is a company called Drenched, but at first I thought it was a government thing trying to get us to drink more water.
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2008-05-21 06:51:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I don't think you can be immune to advertising, orph, not totally. I bet you think of Levi's when you think about jeans, I bet the aftershave you wear has a glossy mass advertising campaign, indee, you were seduced by Waitrose as you were told it is better quality and choice (it soemtimes is, that isn't the point).
It is often so clever that you don't realise you are buying into it. Whether it be you hum a tune you heard on a TV ad, or whatever.
If they was no advertising, I think many people would be overwhelmed with choice.
Submitted by F.J.Bell (user info) at 2008-05-21 06:49:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
My favourite advert at the moment is the Brains one encouraging us to drink water. Is that a government ad or is it for evian or something?
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2008-05-21 06:48:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
All piracy adverts are a joke. I particularly enjoy watching them at the beginning of movies I've stolen from the internet.
Submitted by orph (user info) at 2008-05-21 06:46:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
By far the worst ad I have ever been subjected to is the anti-piracy one here in UK - KnockOff Nigel.
What the hell is the point of this?
I think advertising plays on the weak-willed - if you are going to purchase something, you'll do it without the ad.. If you need to be told, then well, that's a bit sad.
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2008-05-21 06:40:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Our government 'commercials' are laughable. They are on terrestrial TV about 2am an the morning, telling us to 'buckle up' and 'drink wise'. They are obviously made by ancient crusts of people, who are so out of touch with anything modern, anything they make is akin to your mum telling you not to talk to strangers. You do it anyway.
Government propaganda in this country is dated and out of touch. They haven't done anything decent since WW2, or maybe the AIDS scare of the 80's.
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2008-05-21 06:38:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Advertising is a very useful tool for business and I'm pro business so I guess I'm pro advertising.
Cold calling should be illegal though. Seriously. It doesn't work effectivly, the only people who're suseptable to it are vulnerable folks like the elderly who then get taken for a ride.
Also the people that run those call centeres are sociopaths. The only reason companies should be allowed to cold call is so that we can more easily round these people up for treatment.
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2008-05-21 06:34:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I think advbertising has something to do with the debt UK people are in.
Constanlty, people are seduced by 'ways of life' they should be following, heavily based on owning expensive material goods. And banks and credit companies market products in sych a way, many (dumb) people think they are getting something for nothing.
Marketing executives are clever, but ruthless.
I fall for advertising all the time, probably more than I am aware. Ask me which is the best brand of cola on the market, I'd probably say 'Pepsi' or 'Coke' without thinking. Yet, I really prefer Morrisons own premium brand. We are being brainwashed.
Submitted by shandythedog (user info) at 2008-05-21 06:30:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
the state propaganda v. commercial advertising thing is very interesting
is being told over and over again by fox sport that 'Nothing Else Matters' much different to being told Chairman Mao is your daddy?
also, is the solution to the negative sides of commercial advertising for govs to launch counter campaigns?
eg, try and persuade kids to eat fruit and play outside instead of eat sugur and play computer games.
for some reason, the gov ads always seem lame.
Submitted by shandythedog (user info) at 2008-05-21 06:08:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
advertising can undoubtedly be amusing and entertaining
but presumably it also WORKS
ie, it gets us to buy stuff - otherwise businesses wouldn't spend their money on it
and what are the main tools?
are they fear and greed?
as much as we think we ignore ads, at some level do we fear we will be losers (friendless, sexless, alone, etc etc) if we don't do what the adverts tell us to? obviously these are fears we all have anyway, but is it beneficial to have huge armies of psychological experts bomarding us day and night?
once again, this is something of a naive teenage observation, but i wonder if it nevertheless actually has some merit.
is advertising the elephant in the room?
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2008-05-21 05:45:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
On a shallow level, I think some of the most memorable images and stunning cinematograhy I have ever seen have come from adverts. So, no.
However, I strongly believe that advertising aimed at children should be banned. Not so much toys etc but junk food.
When I watch kids TV with my young 'uns, the screen is filled with advertisments for sugary breakfast cereal, sweets and chocolates.
Parents have enough of a struggle to limit these treats without their offspring being seduced by clever marketing techniques.
Only this morning, my 7 year old viewed a commercial for a lolly that was really just a platic tube filled with flavoured sugar and chemicals, with you just used as a roll on, spreading the 'juice' over your tongue. It wasn't even 'food', it was just liquid shit.
The government really needs to wake up to the issue of child obesity, and although, as a parent, it is my responsiblilty, I am educated enough not to feed my kids crap. Other folk may believe what they see and buy it.
Or something...
Submitted by LittleMonster (user info) at 2008-05-21 05:17:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Suicide bomber in the Gulf polo or whatever it was.
great.
Nothing wrong with adverts. It says a lot about a person if they heed everything that is thrown at them. Everyone makes their own choices. I don't see the problem with being presented with options. I do however hate it on the radio. That annoys the fuck out of me. If I get fed up though, there are plenty of stations that don't have any on.
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2008-05-21 04:55:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Shit yeah, it's the same people who did the drag race ad as did the gorilla.
Submitted by F.J.Bell (user info) at 2008-05-21 04:51:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Drumming Gorilla FTW
Submitted by czwij (user info) at 2008-05-21 04:02:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
in former soviet satellite countries there was no advertising, such as we know it from a creative and marketing point of view.
kinda creepy, when i recall seeing the facades of building without signs promting products of some sort.
marketing = captitalism = free market economy = creativity, thought, freedom and democracy.
so i beleive that adverts are all part of the freedom thing, though i tend to ignore commercials if i can, unless they are selling bike or auto parts.
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2008-05-21 03:47:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Television advertising in Britain is currently (for the most part) pretty damn good. Recent highlights have been the Sony Bravia series, the ads for Drench and Specsavers featuring Thunderbirds characters, the Becks ad featuring The Flaming Lips and one that has a 'drag race' between a bunch of slow moving airport vehicles for a product I can't remember. The Guinness giant dominoes advert is also very good.
In the three odd years I lived in the States I didn't once see a unique, funny or original advert.
Submitted by bart (user info) at 2008-05-21 03:32:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
advertising is what separates human beings from the rest of the animal population.
Submitted by Herpes (user info) at 2008-05-21 03:31:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
It sucks when a shitty jingle, or a bullshit product is rammed into your skull 85 times a day.
But... once in a great, GREAT while... ads make sense. They let you know that there's a special going on at your favorite restaurant, or that the electronics shop down the street is having a "best prices of the year on all mobile electronics" 31st birthday sale.
Ad dollars pay for almost all broadcasts. Without ads, there would be no television without outrageous pay-per-view fees, no sports programming, no good radio shows, and in all likelyhood, no good entertainment.
Lobbying. There's something we could definately do without. Someone do a post about that. It'll go heated.
Submitted by orph (user info) at 2008-05-21 03:22:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Yes, but then what would television shows such as 'World's Funniest Commercials' do for content?
You can't deprive the masses of such compelling entertainment.
This needs to be thought through a bit more.
Submitted by Sphagnum (user info) at 2008-05-21 03:19:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Interesting Question...
I can safely say that I wouldn't miss it if it disappeared. I never make any decisions based on advertising.