What is it about being a captive audience that makes people think you want to see more advertising? It used to be that the only things you would see before a movie were previews for other movies. This was considered acceptable because it was somewhat entertaining and informed the viewer of upcoming releases they may be interested in. Today, not only do you have 3-4 movie previews, but a run of product advertisements as well.

I’m currently on an airplane flying back from Florida. Just a short domestic hop. I was very surprised when I pull down the tray in front of me to see an ad for Splenda sweetner. It made me think of the TV ad where the airline passenger needs to insert a quarter to pull down the shade. How far away is this ad from becoming reality? But the outrage doesn’t stop there. The airlines know they have a captive audience and will try and exploit it to the maximum they can. The flight attendant (remember, they are there for your safety and are not your personal servants) read a Bank of America ad to us over the intercom. When did their role as being chief safety officer on board expand to include peddling credit cards?

In the day and age where Tivo’s and DVR’s are reaching the tipping point in popularity, mainly on their abilities to skip TV ads, advertisers just don’t get it. I don’t want to see advertisements. I listen to XM radio or my ipod so I don’t have to hear radio jingles. I install adblockers on my web-browsers for much the safe reason. 90% of the TV I watch is time-shifted to avoid seeing ads. I delete SPAM and Advertisements from my e-mail. Catalogues and junk mail go right into the garbage bin.

Advertisers take note: Flooding me with ads have an opposite effect. I become immune to them to the point where I don’t even see them. So if you want your advertising to be effective, don’t flood me with them. “Everything in moderation”.

Side Note: The back page of the New York times the guy in front of me is reading also talks about this. How ironic.

A further note. It’s now ben a full week since I wrote the above and have some more information o this topic, especially when related to travel. Apparently the TSA is going to allow advertising while you’re waiting in line get searched for exploding shoes and dangerous water. To take things a step further, they are going to allow companies to sponsor the trays you put your stuff in to go through thte X-ray machine. Now I can (in some sense) understand trading my eyes and getting something in return (like TV or Radio). But this is just pure greed to take advantage of captive people. It’s not like I can skip going through security. Same issue with paying $200 for an airline ticket and having to be subjected to ads. Greedy.

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