| > ads are such an integral part of our lives I'll skip the futurama reference for now, but for me ads are far rarer than in the 90s. Adblock handles most things online, iPlayer, Netflix and amazon don't really have adverts on TV (they have a graphical menu but I would call that an advert), Spotify doesn't have adverts. Sure there are a few adverts if I go to somewhere like london, and Sainsbury's advertise their own deals in store, and of course products on the shelf are adverts in of themselves, but the only advert I have seen in the last 24 hours was one raising awareness of cistic fibrosis in a billboard outside of Sainsbury's. Oh and the train announcement saying "the on board shop is open for teas coffees and light refreshments". There wouldn't have been any product placement in the episode of once upon a time I watched last night either. The TV jingles I remember from childhood are still etched in my brain, the adverts I see in this decade are ones I hunt out depberatly (the John Lewis Xmas advert for example, or film trailers, or something about amazon delivery people stealing your sofa that was recommended at work) I did see adverts on Saturday night when we went to see Thor. I don't recall what was advertised other than odeon limitless, the trailers are adverts too of course, alas they don't really work - we'd rather see more films at the cinema than we do now, but getting babysitting is a pain. We missed Spider-Man and kingsmen for example. If anything there are more opportunities to avoid adverts than ever before. |
If you haven't been to London recently I understand you might say there are a few ads, but lately I have really begun to notice just how prevalent they are. The tube is absolutely plastered with them - in the train carriages, the escalators, the tunnels between platforms. Construction work fences are covered in ads. And this is for thousands of people who travel 30-45mins two times every day, completely filled with ads. You don't necessarily pay them much attention every day, but they definitely have an effect on which companies, brands and even theatre performances pop into my head first.
On top of this, I took a flight to Heathrow last night and there were ads on the plane, ads all over the arrivals area as you walk to the taxi rank. In the Uber home I noticed the motorway connecting Heathrow and London has bright electronic billboards one after the other - it never seems to end.
I just wanted to give some perspective on what the commuter experience is like in London (and I'm sure in other large cities, too). It may feel like you experience less ads personally, but that may not be representative of the general public.
The apps you mentioned are a select few (admittedly good examples of how TV ads have gone down) , but most free apps now rely on some kind of advertising model to be profitable. Almost every social media platform forces ads into your timeline. Perhaps we just don't tend to notice how pervasive they are.