I don’t think your behavior can be taken as typical since you have a professional interest in looking at ads. I have my TV setup such that when I push the mute during commercials the sound switches to the local classical music station, I’ve never been tempted to hear what they are saying on screen.

The other question is whether amusing ads actually get people to alter their buying behavior. I seem to remember a couple of very witty campaigns which were pulled when the sponsors determined that sales weren’t affected. The two that come time mind were the Piels brothers cartoons with voices by Bob and Ray (probably before your time) and the Snapple ads with the woman from Queens as spokesperson.

Obviously some advertising works some of the time, but I’m just wondering if it hasn’t reach the point of diminishing returns. To see that this is a perennial question try this story by Ellis Parker Butler:
http://www.ellisparkerbutler.info/epb/reading.asp?id=2240

(The best one about placement doesn’t seem to in the collection it deals with an automobile.)

If and when I buy an HDTV, one of the requirements for justifying the purchase will be the ability to use it with my computer – and with my track record it’ll get the most use there. We watched about 30 mins of the Oscars before switching off – I was tearing-up, but I wasn’t sure if it was from Ennio Morricone’s acceptance speech in his native Italian, or Clint Eastwood’s off-the-cuff translations of it.

Consumers ARE bombarded with Ads 24/7…but savvy and successful advertisers have learned the most important lesson – make ads that ENTERTAIN and you will have viewers unable to distinguish whether the programming or the ADS are more entertaining. As someone who works in advertising (yes, I’m finally ‘outing’ myself), I can afford to take the most feral, Darwinian approach to advertising: survival of the fittest.

Ads that bore me DESERVE to be sucked down into the tarpits. Ads that entertain and leave me laughing are usually BRILLIANT, and more power to the people crafting them and the services/companies they are selling.

Here’s the deal: yes, networks ARE cramming a dozen or so ads into major commercial breaks. Some are regional/local (which have their own degree of entertainment value, depending on how you look at them) and some are just canned, lack-luster efforts by Madison or Michigan Avenue wannbes who couldn’t hold their own on open-mike night at their local karaoke or comedy bar. But SOME…a very FEW…are brilliant. And THOSE are what grab the viewer’s attention and sell. One of the great ironies in our home is that we’re often jockeying for the remote to bring the sound back up for commercials that have optical promise. It used to drive my wife crazy that I would sit and watch the commercials without muting them. But as she became accustomed to living with an ad designer, she began to ‘get it.’ Before long, SHE was coming to me to tell me about this or that commercial that had her hooked.

Journalism/Broadcasting/Blogging – the emergent merger – is a definite. Advertising, though, is getting smarter about entertainment value…and that is just as fascinating to me.

I think you are spot-on with the Oscars missing the boat by yanking their stuff off You-Tube. Short clips – and short viewspans – are where we’ve been headed for years…the perfect ‘teasers’…and advertising hasn’t just woken up and smelled the COFFEE on this one – they’re already in the kitchen with an ESPRESSO MACHINE…

Aren’t the dollars available for ads finite, so that a buy in one medium will cause a drop in spending elsewhere?

Aren’t consumers so bombarded with ads that they have lost their effectiveness? I’ve noticed that TV commercial breaks now have as many as twelve ads in a row. I can’t believe that any of these can really make an impression on people when so many are seen in succession.

What happens when the “free” services paid by advertising business plan breaks down? There seems to be no plan B.

Only thing – it seems its the content not the quality of the feed in this fast food world. Feed me.

Don’t give up on HDtv. A night’s play of Dance’s With Wolves with chineese or pizza in front of you, still looks and sounds good.

Thank goodness HD came to be just in time for the war on terror.

clarification – ps: I got HDtv with tuner (had antenna) for the White Sox World Series … have not got the HD movie player device yet … waiting for the shake out

I dare say it: The Oscars have jumped the shark.