Are you convinced by advertisements?

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Which people? Not me. I research and buy products with good reviews, or products with non-toxic ingredients, or I compromize and buy products based on cost, and so on. Brand names and advertising are meaningless in my universe.

I stopped watching TV because of advertisements and how much European television blows over 5 years ago. I went to BitTorrent and never looked back. Oh, and at about the same time I discovered Adblock.

I now live a life with no advertisements, watching only what I want, when I want. Commercials literally make me angry because they're all aimed at ret*ds. Mind you, there's a difference between the ret*d they're targeting(the consumer-whore) and actual ret*ds. As far as TV goes: I wouldn't mind that much if the commercials were shown before whatever I want to see, provided they actually had good content, but this is Europe: We don't need good television from abroad, because we can make sh***y copies of American game-shows that debuted in the 80s, and people will still pay to see this s**t. Oh, you want American or British television? We can probably get something from the start of the 90s like "The Nanny" or The Simpsons, of course we will only get 2 seasons and then we will cycle between them until we just take the program off the air. This is European television, no hyperbole whatsoever.

Nope, you live your life immersed in advertisements. Just because you don't see them on your TV and computer screens means nothing. Unless you live inthe woods, you are immersed. You are surrounded by advertisements. They are on the buses that drive past you. On signs that you see even if you don't intentionally look at them. You overhear them played on speakers you have no control over. They are on nearly every surface of the stores you go into. And they get into your brain, whether you like it or not.

Mad ads topic

When I was a kid most ads were musical jingles, whether on the radio or on TV. The print ads would reinforce the TV and billboard ones. I still remember ads for products like Presswood Bacon and Ham, Ajax, the foaming cleanser, and See the USA in your Chevrolet. I would remember them and make up my own ditties (There was a thread here on this on this!)

I still remember from when I was a kid the words for the ad about the board game Trouble. "Popamatic Trouble." I can still here the guy singing the jingle.

I just like the visuals and jungles, not the products.

Right now they have one for Cornflakes, and it shows three people with prominent noses getting surprised by the toppings secretly put on their cereal by the Rooster. The music is corny and I hear it in my brain sometimes. But cornflakes is not my cereal. Yet the ad is cute. So is the one about the warnings about hidden peanuts in commercial baked goods. I feel almost sorry for the peanut who is crying in the box. Artistic way they did that.

I still love reading catalogues, and I prefer print ads, in which I can think about if I want the product. It is easier to compare prices, ane there is usually a phone number so you can call and ask about it.

Yeay you're right, I guess it's relative in the sense that I've removed all advertisement I can avoid without making drastic changes to my life like becoming a crazy cat lady who lives in the woods!

Seriously though, there is actually a debate over whether it's "ethical" to block ads on the internet because websites rely on advertisement for funding, on one hand I can see the argument, but on the other hand, I know how low websites will stoop advertising-wise to get money - Spyware, deceptive ads, scams, etc. Also, a very important moral problem is ignored: there are thousands of people working in these advertising conglomerates or however they function, all working to infiltrate our minds and persuade us. Thousands of people, earning millions to persuade me consciously and subconsciously, and this is supposed to be a fair fight because I can just "ignore" the ads? Please.

I've heard this "ethical" debate too. I've also heard it in regards to DVRs which allow people to ignore TV ads. The people who promote the idea that using technology to not see ads is unethical just haven't thought the concept through all the way. (Or have thought it through all the way and are hoping others haven't.) When they claim that ad-blocking cheats advertisers from exposure to potential customers, they are actually claiming that advertisers have purchased the right to peoples' eyes, ears and brains rather than merel;y purchased the right to have the ads appear in certain venues. I think that opposing blocking is itself unethical because it assumes some sort of purchased right to people's attention. Advertisers have no more right to peoples' attention on screens than they have a right to it anywhere else. Before this technology existed, people used to just ude TV commercial time as a bathroom break or snack-fixing time. Nobody back then ever brought up the argument that if you were going to watch The Ed Sullivan show for free you were ethically obligated to stay in the room during commercials since your attention had been purchased and ad exposure was the price you "paid" for admission to the Ed Sullivan Show. It would have been laughed at as a preposterous argument then. It's just as preposterous now but for some reason people are taking it seriously. And that makes me nervous. I hate to think people have accepted the idea that they owe attention to advertisors.