Advertising

An open letter to advertisers:
Ok, so maybe I' m a little weird. But, like most folks, I have my TV and radio on for significant periods of each day. I of course, see plenty of your ads. What you may be interested to learn is that I do not respond to your ads according to what your demographic marketing professionals tell you.
When I hear someone on the radio talk fast, I assume that what I am hearing is a lie. The faster the talk, the bigger the lie. When I see images on the TV flashing rapidity, I look out the window. I know that it must be a commercial and that I am most likely not only not interested but that I'm being inundated with stressful images and prejudicial opinions (more lies).
I especially try to buy products that are not advertised during high profile events such as the Super Bowl or the World Series. I know that the cost of ALL advertising is passed on to the consumer. All things being equal, I'm sure that the company that produces a bottle of pop and that doesn't pay a half a million dollars a minute for a commercial has to be a better value to me.
I am subjected to hundreds, maybe thousands of hours of ads for automobiles between the rare points in my life (once every eight or ten years) when I'm actually in the market to buy a car or truck. A new Ford or Chevy has to cost thousands of dollars over manufacturing costs just to pay for all the thousands of expensive radio, TV, print, and billboard ads that blight our lives (I was going to say consciousness, but it's unconscious too and "consciousnesses or collective consciousness" sounded funny).
Of course advertising has a legitimate function. We all need factual information as to what is available, where, when, at what cost. There really are differences in quality, environmental and social issues between products and companies. I’d like to know the differences. Of course, 99% of 99% of ads can be translated into one phrase: "We’re better than them." It’s like the two Popes that excommunicated each other. Which one is in Hell?
When a company decides to bathe the planet with incredibly expensive ads at saturation levels, I for one get the real message: This product is likely identical to its competitors, except maybe it costs more ... because of all the money wasted on over advertising.