Commercial Love

People love advertising, commercials. So much so many will even pay to see them.

I don’t understand peoples’ fascination with advertizing. Is it the media that builds the desire to watch?

Advertisers pay huge amounts to place their newest commercials on Super Bowl time, part of the value must surely be that they know that even stations that don’t carry the Super Bowl game will still play the ads as part of their news or sports broadcast. Do they play them for free or are they being paid for the hype?

Many television stations have a once a week segment showing what they consider the best or funniest commercials. That I can perhaps understand, do they get paid to show them?

The biggest mystery to me is brand name clothing. Why would anyone pay extra to have Tommy Hilfiger in bold letters printed across their chest or back. Or Nike. Or Bum. You can buy the same quality shirt or pants without advertizing for less than half price at other stores and often at the same store. This is a day and age when it is very hard to have people volunteer their time for free, yet those very same people are willing to pay the garment distributor for the privilege of advertizing for them. I say, if you want me to be your billboard, give me the shirt.

Then there are the Home shows, Car shows, Boat shows Garden shows and a host of other advertizing venues that charge admission to go and see a suppliers product. What’s up with that? Pay 20 bucks or more to see the same product you can find at any building supply outlet or garden center.