Advertising
I was sitting in the theater waiting for the movie to start. After the animated candy and popcorn box sang their snack-bar tune, and following the preview for the coming attractions, the movie finally began.
I settled in my seat and gave the film my full attention. Somewhere around forty seconds in, it dawned on me that what I was watching on the screen wasn’t the movie at all. Instead, it was a slick advertisement for American Express. In an odd sort of way, I felt like I had been sucker-punched. I had let my guard down from all advertisements, and they managed to jab one in when I was most vulnerable.
I read somewhere that we in the modern world see an average of 3,000 ads per day. The number sounds rather large and overwhelming, but I suppose many of the ads are so subtle that we give them very little attention, at least consciously.
Early on in life, each of us is forced to develop somewhat of a callus towards advertising or we will be at the mercy of advertising. Anyone that has seen a child throwing a tantrum in the store because he can’t have Froot Loops, knows how powerful advertising can be and how susceptible we are. The callus we develop towards advertising is forever in need of hardening because marketers are continually finding new ways to have their ads seen, heard, and read.
Despite my own callus towards advertising, some ads stick in my memory and there are times when I succumb to their suggestive power. Pizza commercials are a good example of that. Sometimes when I fight off the allure of a pizza commercial, it takes about three days before the residue of temptation is completely gone.