Kids today are exposed to more advertising then ever. I feel that they are starting to like being advertised to or don't understand when they are being advertised to. Our children are being forced to be more and more the same to fit into a global media cookie-cutter. I think the cookie cutter has destroyed their individuality and make them commercialist drones. Market research aimed at teens has ruined most of TV and music. We may be fighting a war a terror but I think we have a more important war, a war on advertising. Americans are so focused on entertainment that we let five conglomerates control our lives.

You're right Ranciduncle kids are exposed to more advertising than ever before. When I was a kid and I saw toy commercials and liked the toy that was being advertised I would asked one of my parents to buy it for me. Big corporations that hire media production companies know how to persuade kids to ask their parents to buy them something. This is more true around the Holiday seasons (wouldn't you think)? Commercials in general are persuading. There wouldn't be a need for so many commercials today if there wasn't something a big corporation was trying to sell. Commercials are just one of the many forms of advertisments and what probably makse them the most profitable is that we get to see what's being advertised on Tv first (know what it looks like then go to the store that sales that particular item and judge for ourselves whether we want to buy it).

We live in a materialistic, consumeristic, credit addicted society that can't stay away from shopping malls. Americans just love to buy-buy-buy. It's ingrained into our culture. Certainly advertisements everywhere we go is not helping things. Personally, I think there should be a ban on all billboards next to roads and highways. What such eyesores! That's one reason I like to go to Hilton Head for vacations. They must have some laws prohibiting billboards cause I don't see them anywhere. Anyways, just going on a rambling rant.

Yeah, we have too much advertisements.

I agree there is too many commericals and advertisements. That's usually when I visit the "little Girls room". But I have to admit to laughing out loud and really enjoying a few.

The main problem I have with commercials is dishonesty. I admit to being a bit puritanical in this regard. I do not think any sort of false nor misleading statements nor unfounded statements should be allowed in advertising. Advertising is a means to disseminate information. That purpose is fine. Allowing the constant stream of bogus claims is harmful to the moral consciousness of the country.

The penalties, standards, and prosecution in this regard should be ramped up.

I've read a little about this subject. We are hit with more actions now than ever (an action is a harsh change in audio or visual stimulation, ie. a film cut, a flash of light or color, a door slamming, a guy screaming) It's quadrupled in the last 10 years. If that made any sense to you then I'm surprised but anyway there is a study that has proven how much more information we are being fed these days. It's bound to happen, if you were raised at the onset of television then you would have a higher tolreance to quick paced films and music. And so on.

Besides that ads need more regulations for sound levels and they need to be screened for misleading info.

I just had a thought. What if there were no commercials? Think about it. New products come out all the time. How would be a way to inform people what is available? New Cars, Health products, Food, Clothing, and that is just the top of the barrel of things that companies advertise. I have posted before I think there are way too many commercials but would we really better off with none at all?

I too, like the process of taking arguments to the extreme to see how they hold up, in this case the number of advertisements. Advertisements do have a main purpose and that is to spread information, such as the existence of a product. We would have less knowledge if there were not any advertisements.

In regards to this issue, I recommend the book "No Logo," by Naomi Klein. Those conservatives among you who may have heard of this book as some sort of liberal manifesto, ought to read it. It is very well thought out and presented, and has a lot to say on this subject. It traces the movement in the corporate world from general informational advertaising to the current stae of brand selling, a concept that changed the corporate world itself, as well as the way they advertise.

As someone who hasn't had cable TV for many years, I am amazed when I do see TV. And people actually have long conversations about cool commercials! I don't get it. The longer you don't see them, the more disgusting they seem. I think the biggest laugh corporations have is that WE pay THEM to wear clothes advertising their company. How twisted is that? It also scares me that we take the ubiquity of advertising so calmly. People don't seem to even notice it these days...

I've got nothing against advertising. I need advertising to survive! As Momof3 posted, I find many advertisements to be entertaining and a few to be touching. There's one now on Comedy Central (favorite place to veg) with very good singers hawking clothes. Who are these people and do they perform together somewhere? I'd sure like to check out one of their gigs.

So an ad for clothes becomes a showcase for talent.

As someone else posted, the volume levels for TV ads are pumped up, and this is really annoying. We use the mute button or record and skip. So there.

Marketing and advertising are here to stay. The work can be a lot of fun and creative, and the demand tends to remain stable through recessions. We all depend on advertising in one way or another, but are kids targeted too much? I think so. There's actually a little bit of debate going on now about demographics and the ignoring of an older consumer crowd. Seems that the marketing gurus have been making a lot of assumptions based on old research. Times have changed, and as an excellent comedian once quipped, the real Britany Spears fans are old guys like him

Since marketing rather then quality is the only way for a movie or band to make big money marketing lowers the quality of media. We have advertising not only in commercial but inside the TV show. What someone said about kids getting all the advertising is right. This means all the shows are marketed to kids (kids being 14-25) and kids are really stupid. The only good thing on TV now is sports and Seinfeld re-runs.

Im with quarkhead on this. No Logo is a fabulous book about advertising and the creation of brands and branding. Naomi Klein's website is also quite informative (www.nologo.org).

I am not entriely against advertising, but the fact is, advertising now has become an absurdity. People need advertising in a free market, but thats not the problem. Advertising definatley contributes to the materialization of our society, and the way its done today isnt necessary. When advertising first came about, it had nothing to do with brand loyalty, it was simply there to inform consumers of a new product or service. Now its an obscenity, how many people really need to be informed about Nike or the Pentium chip?