Amusing Ourselves to Death

There was the quote, attributed to some Marxist and/or communist and/or socialist, which was something to the effect "Advertisement is to get the people to buy something they don't want and don't need". At the time I heard it, it was some capitalist trotting it out as a condemnation of communism.Even the many years ago I heard that quote, I thought of it as a "great truth". I have probably since become even more cynical.Advertisements generally are not sources of information. They are psychological manipulations. I tend to look upon it such that "Anything being advertised is not worth buying".Moose

I don't think I got the quote totally right, thus I included the "which was something to the effect". The proper version is probably better.The great flood of "bad advertisements" makes it difficult to impossible for businesses to actually present "good advertisements" that will get them good results.Do you think the "bad advertisements" are effective? Or are the businesses meerly supplying "wallpaper", that isn't paid attention to?To me, the best advertisements are ones that have some entertainment value. The prime example: The old "Lite Beer" commercials. While I really wouldn't want to buy the beer, I did almost feel a certain obligation to, to support the entertainment productions.Moose{Edited to yet again change ID from the admin mode}This message has been edited by minnemooseus, 10-23-2004 10:48 PM