Advertising.
If you have a creative streak, relentless drive, and you can put any sense of morality you might possess on a shelf, you can probably have a nice career in advertising.
Name the product—cars, trucks, prescription drugs, pet food, personal hygiene—if you can weave a story and convince consumers that what you’re selling is the greatest thing since sliced bread, appeal to their sense of eco-awareness, pride and identity, all the while blurring the lines between want and need, then people will definitely consider buying what you’re selling.
One reason I miss big chunks of programming I want to watch is because I close my eyes when the five or seven minutes of commercials start, and I end up falling asleep.
For me, the latest crass commercialism to make me wretch is an ad that starts with a guy asking, “Do you want to win Christmas?!” And then a woman I assume is his wife or significant other chimes in and asks “Do you really want to win Christmas?!” In my head I long ago started saying, “STFU.” Anymore, we Skip as soon as we’re allowed so we can go back to watching the selected YouTube clip.
Advertising in general is sickeningly loud, slick, contrived sludge, created with much forethought, targeting various audiences using guilt, pride, excessive drama, a tug at the heartstrings, patriotism, and anything else in order to merely sell stuff.
Even PBS can’t avoid obligation to its sponsors, but at least they get everything out of the way up front. Commercial television pretty much amounts to an annoying homage to commercialism, with a bit of programming thrown in.
3 Cents' 