Why are we allowing the corporate entities who want to convince us that we need something we probably don't infiltrate every medium. I know advertisers pay for the mediums to exist, but really? Where's the line? When do we say, this is a zone that doesn't need ads.
Print magazines and Television had always had advertising it to offset the enormous costs of production. But when it became clear that the people could use technology to create their own communities, Madison Avenue jumped right in. Most of those mediums did not start with ads. YouTube was once ad free. Google, Yahoo was too. And, believe it or not, AOL was not always the ad whore it became.
As network television started loosing viewers, advertisers started to panic that there was not an audience for their ads. And that they need to find a new way to reach the people so their clients don't leave them. I'm pretty sure the conversations started with executives yelling at the ad men in their company 'I don't caer if we do reach them, we have to have them BELIEVE that we are reaching them!' And that is how the transition started. They certainly didn't start believing that non-traditional sites were going to being in people, but it didn't cost much to make the client believe that the gamble would pay off big, which it did. No one was more surprised than the ad executives.
Once they started with the promo pages for their clients, they leaped into creating links to the corporate web pages from the places that people were already attending. With the promise of cheap coupons and 'internet only ' sale items, they were off. They sponsored everything. The ad men were able to talk clients into all sorts of bullshit gambles that the clients went for with the same old pitch used for early television: 'it's the wave of the future!'.
More ads started to appear everywhere. You saw them on Jumbotrons, on ticket stubs, and on local community school flyers. Then, because the ad on every ticket stub was doing well, they wanted more. They started offsetting the costs of stadiums to have it named after them as a giant ad. The Staples Center, AT&T Park etc.
Then the greed without regulation started and it was time to take over the movie theaters. 'Nothing else was on that screen while people funneled in, we can create a stream of advertisements since they are a captive audience!' said Pete the mad man. 'Don't you think people will start to revolt against such blatant disregard for their time?' said Roger the executive mad man. 'We'll wrap it in a slide show, or better, some bits the studios can use to advertise their own crappy movies, and call it 'The Pre-Show Countdown' said Don, the genius mad man. 'Genius, Don, take our booze and wives in gratitude!' said the entire company.
Now, we are getting films on Netflix, Hulu, and directly on the phone with app ads (so cutely called 'iAds' on the iPhone). We really age getting to the place where they are just about everywhere. Elevators, bathrooms, menu's, coffee cups, soda cups, candy wrappers, and worse, inside movies and television like never before. That's right, product placement. They've found the glory of getting into the content. That's not new, but not as frequent as it is now. When you see the cast of Community in written bits throughout the Emmy Awards pushing the car that is getting them there, this may be a bit like the Colgate Comedy hour.
They have the stadiums. Soon, it's back to the programs. Subway's Chuck. Chevy Community. V8 30 Rock.
Don't worry. You can find all the placements when they tweet them.
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