Monday, March 14, 2016

Hate and advertising.

I'm going to say it.

I don't think people hate advertising.

I think they hate being lied to.

And I think they hate being used.

That's the way I feel treated by most of the advertising I saw over the weekend.

We were staying in a shitbag of an expensive hotel.

They never said they were under construction.

Instead they were under-going "enhancements."

Enhancements that demanded we take the elevator to 10, switch elevators there and then take a down elevator to reach our floor, 7.

Our room, of course, was festooned with ads.

Again, they weren't renovating--they were "reimagining an icon."

You know what, the Statue of Liberty is an icon.

Our hotel was a former Hilton.


Then there's the airlines. 

They charge us through the ass for tickets. Then, once you're captive, they bombard you with advertisements. Advertisements that lie and show employees smiling and neat. (My flight personnel were grumpy and slovenly.) Then when you're good and pissed, they demand that you listen to an offer for a credit card.

Look, the quid pro quo of advertising as always been thus: you give us your time, we'll reduce the cost of entertainment. 

Most ads today represent double-dipping on the account of the channel or advertising. Did those inflight ads reduce the cost of my ticket?

No.

They're using me. 

They've broken the deal, the equation.

I think this is what people hate.

If we hate advertising more now than during my childhood it's because they're doubly ripping us off. We pay for tv, then we pay by having to watch ads. You're being charged double. 

No wonder we hate.


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