There’s an old belief in the Advertising world that the more annoying an ad is the more “effective” it is, because people will remember it. I find this reprehensible. Even before I was aware of that fact, though, I had developed a tendency to avoid companies whose commercials and advertising was annoying or insulting. If a company respects me so little then why should I reward them for that?
I developed that attitude around 8 years of age, when it first began to dawn on me that advertisers lie, just out right lie. Little things in TV commercials would bother me and I’d ask around and discover that such-and-such isn’t so. Then I’d ask the Adults how they could do this, or why they would do it (when it’s just wrong and misleading, dig?), and got answers that were shrugs or general cynicism, but that also indicated they didn’t really care. The lack of indignation (though I didn’t know that word yet, then) on the part of the Adults was just as baffling to me as the behavior of the advertisers themselves.
I used to make it general practice of Boycotting any company whose advertising was below the mark, insulting, misinforming, etc. But then it finally occurred to me that so very many companies do this that this would leave virtually no one left to buy anything from. So I just ignore all advertising now. I stay off of YouTube because I can’t get away from the ads, except now and then there’s something I must look at, because of my work, for instance. I grumble and complain about the ads. If a video has more than one “commercial break” in it, I won’t watch it, period. I don’t need my train of thought interrupted by an ad for a product I bought already — which, ironically, is what nearly all internet advertising I get subjected to is about: ads for things I have already purchased. What good is that?
So, now, when I need something, I look around for quality, I completely ignore brand names, I ignore consumer reviews (most of them having been written by people who are professional reviewers an have no idea what makes a product good or not), and I look for what it is that I need.
D**n the Advertisers! Full Speed Ahead [to Quality]!