6/30/2003: Deceptive ads

[mitch]

Originally posted by SteveDallas
But these days most ads are paid according to click-throughs, not page hits, right? Does that mean there's no moral difference between blocking the ads altogether and simply not clicking on them? Compare and contrast this to the TV executive who said people who didn't watch TV commercials were thieves.

You know, as much as I ignore advertising, I have to wonder how effective it really is.

You make an interesting point about blocking TV ads. I own a TiVo and don't watch ads anymore, although sometimes I'll click back to watch a movie preview or something.

Think about the large companies who rely on powerful marketing to sell a product (new cereal, kids toys, etc.) losing their capability to do what they've done for years because of a new technology. They're going to freak out and do what the RIAA is doing with MP3s and file sharing -- they're going to attack the technology and work the law to help them get what they want (the entertainment industry is going to help because it's their source of revenue).

The problem with this (obviously) is that it stifles creativity and invention -- the next TiVo might not be made because it isn't cost-effective to do so anymore. The giant corporations that have effective lobbies can shape law into their own desires -- CDs will have built-in copy-protection and TiVo's won't be allowed to skip ads.

I don't know the numbers myself, but certainly someone knows the average length of commercial breaks for a 1-hour television program 20-, 10-, 5-, and even 2 years ago compared to now. I bet the results are interesting.