To convince the rabid consumer that he/she needs to buy every single piece of shit our factories and service economy can producte: to "look cool".. fit in or otherwise "be successful in life".. Including getting LOTS of hot women: http://www.theaxeeffect.com/ (yeah, good work Unilever! I'm really convinced.)
The internet is a different animal though. Because unlike TV - on the internet you can halfway control what they try to force into your head. It was created before advertising online was a profitable business model. Of course now the marketers control 75-80% of all Internet traffic.. But the difference is You CAN "hit the back button", close the page, and block out most of the marketing spam: http://adblockplus.org/en/
Most people from the "Old Media" generation - the TV addictes - do not even realize that this technolgy exists. Many of my friends (young 20's) are too ignorant to use AdBlock. If my parent's knew what AdBlock was it would BLOW their mind!
Anyway, they're brainwashed, to the point where they actually ENJOY watching commericals. And you can cite the poor sales of TiVo's as a symptom of this - not its *cause.
It's sad how many years the average person wastes watching TV. They watch literally YEARS of TV commercial in a lifetime: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 246AApnUgI
And that's not all: Producers have to put in "product placements" and "tailor" their shows to satisfying their Sponsors, or their network. Just look at the NFL Superbowl and what an F'n joke that has become?? How many people do personally know, who say they actually "Enjoy watching Superbowl commercials"? As if the medium itself was an Art form: http://www.creativeadawards.com/
How many young white men, with small penises, from the age of 18-35 own a 5,000 lb gas guzzling pickup truck???
Commercials are not= entertainment. They're brainwashing. Always were.
Anyway, that was my little rant on the commercialization of our media.
I Honestly don't think entertainment in itself is a bad thing.. Just 99% of it is absolute garbage anyway. Even if you took out the commercials.
