Feedback from Friends & Foes

I'm so sick and tired of the commercial clutter that occurs in nearly every aspect of our lives. I get bombarded with ads in my utility bills, my e-mail box, and even in the CDs I order from Columbia House. You can't even read a book without a product plug these days! But television is where the worst clutter is by far.

I'm really worried about an insidious form of advertising called "product placement." It's been in movies for far too long; it's one reason I refuse to go to the movies anymore. TV game shows, most notably "The Price is Right," are an ad-man's delight with all the plugs. But now this obnoxious practice is spreading to sitcoms and dramas. This is the last straw for me; between the endless ads (some cable channels have five minute commercial breaks!), inane promos at the bottom of the screen, the "bug," infomercials and now product placements, it's hard to tell if you're watching TV or a 24-hour billboard! It's enough to make me turn off the set and work on crossword puzzles!

– Mary Louise Turner

This is the first page I have encountered with no flashing ads asking me to buy buy buy! I find it amazing to finally see how to make a difference. Not just knowing media is evil. This page helps to educate to stop this life-sucking force that comes from the cycloptic eye of the media. I love the art style you chose to express your logo in.

– Gina D.

I recently wrote an e-mail to the Arbitron executives listed in Bad Ads on its study on advertising in movie theatres. The following is the e-mail I wrote to them and the response from one of them for your records:

[The letter, a paraphrased version of our BadAds article, has been cut for space reasons.]

Here is the response I received from Paul LeFort, Manager of Business Development of Arbitron:

"Perhaps this is another one we should let be."

"Pierre, have you seen this type of visceral consumer reaction with our other industry studies?"

– Beth Yocam

Fascinating response, Beth! Paul probably sent you that note unintentionally, providing us a window into Arbitron's world, a world that isn't as docile and accepting as company executives would like it to be. We hope more readers will follow the link above and write to Arbitron to tell them how you really feel about cinema advertising.

Movie Ads are a catch 22. Most of the ad time for the screens are sold or rented to the companies by the theater owners. Lowes, a big corporation, has no excuse for charging high ticket and concession prices then bombard the screen with ads. Private and independant theater owner on the other hand are forced to do so with no other option. Theater owners are in the candy business. When Sony Pictures take the 85 percent of your $9 ticket that doesn't leave the theater owner with much profit, so he must charge $4 for a small popcorn and $3.50 for a bag of candy. But [half?] of the people either eat nothing during the movie or sneak in their own food. Screen Advertising is the only solution left for a theater owner to make a small profit. If you want to stop theater ads then encourage people to buy the over priced popcorn. As long as Toby Macgwure makes $17 Million a movie, then the Motion Picture companies must take a larger chuck of the Box Office totals, then the theater owner must either a) raise ticket prices drastically to compensate or b) sell some screen time for advertisments. Which would you rather have? If the answer is none, then wait for the rental, because there will be no theater for you to see it at.

– Fred

Thanks for writing, but we don't feel those are the only two options. A twelve-screen independent theater near us plays first-run movies and charges $6.50, more than $2 less than Hoyts, Regal and Showcase. This theater has been around for years and runs only the slide type of advertising that promotes local businesses, which is much less objectionable than yet another soda or car commercial by a national manufacturer. Clearly this model can succeed.

Communist homosexuals:

Have you ever worked for a living?

What do you have against our free enterprise system?

How much money do you spunge off the taxpayers and your rich parents in your tenured "job" at a Communist indoctrination institution (also called "college" or "university") where you sit on your lazy butt and do nothing because you can't get fired?

Why do you hate real people in the real world?

Why do you hate America?

And if you hate America so much, why don't you get the hell out of here and go have oral sex with your buddies Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein – maybe our planes will be flying over and a missile will KILL YOU DEAD!

And oh yes, Communist homosexual – how big was your celebration on Sept. 11?

I am an AMERICAN! THESE COLORS DON'T RUN!

– Elitism fighter

Thank you for your thoughtful comments. For the record, only one of us is a Communist homosexual; the other one merely holds such aspirations.

In February 2003, we wrote about two lawsuits that telemarketers filed in response to the FTC's propsed nationwide "do-not-call" list. Since we heed our own advice, Eric sent the following note to each company involved:

I'm astounded that your organization has the nerve to sue the FTC over its proposed "do not call" list. Citizens should have the right to privacy within their homes, and current measures do not provide such privacy to every citizen. Your "freedom of speech" ends at my doorstep.

Please reconsider your lawsuit. Arguing that you have the right to bother people in their own homes hardly curries sympathy for your cause.

Here's the only response we received, followed by our comments to specific points raised in the letter:

All of us here at U.S. Security feel that we must take a stand to ensure that all American people's rights are upheld.[1]

Also, we feel if a National Do Not Call List is going to be implemented, it should be done by the proper agency and the FTC is not the correct agency to implement this plan.

We are sure that most people are not aware of the negative impact this type of legislation will have on our nations economy. Billions of dollars of business transactions would cease, not to mention the crushing blow this would be to the 4 million people and their famililes who are employed in the teleservices industry.

Our company alone employs approximately 800 people of which about 300 are Telephone Service Reps (TSR's). The other 500 employees are somewhat dependent on the advertising activity ok our TSR;s. Our average wages are $39,000 per year. Who is going to replace these lost wages? Who will retrain these people? Who will take care of the children for these families?[2]

U.S. Security does not sell anything over the phone. We simply ask for the opportunity to tell someone about the life saving benefits of our security and fire systems in a face to face meeting.[3]

As a small business we are already overwhelmed with 27 state bureaucracies, 27 different Do Not Call lists, the costs of maintaining these databases and their fines when we make an honest mistake. We have already been forced out of business in Kentucky because of their Attorney General's refusal to follow their own law. There are already Do Not Call list requirements in place. We cannot afford to allow anymore unconstitutional regulation to be enacted.[4]

Under this new law, politicians, insurance companies, charities, air lines, long distance phone companies, banks and credit unions would be exempt. Why is our business not exempt? Why are some businesses protected and some not? How will this best serve the consumer when they will still be called by these unregulated groups? Where does it stop? Will they ban direct mail? T.V. commercials? Bill boards? The FTC's proposed Do Not Call list is not good for anyone and must be stopped![5]

We cannot survive anymore cumbersome, over-regulated, over-taxed regulation. We are appealing to the common sense and fairness of our U.S. courts for relief of anymore unneeded legislation or regulation.

Sincerely,

Rick Ratliff
President
U.S.Security, Inc.

[1] Except that you're not. You're appealing for the right to continue bothering people at home against their will.

[2] Times change, Mr. Ratliff. The tobacco industry could make the same arguments against federal warning labels and no-smoking zones in restaurants (and likely did, but that was before my time), but because of greater awareness of the unhealthy nature of the product sold, public opinion has turned against tobacco. Tobacco is still legal, but to account for changes in society that have reduced tobacco sales, some RJR and Philip Morris employees will have to find work elsewhere. That's the nature of the economy.

[3] And I don't want you to bother me. Since you're intruding upon my privacy, my freedom of speech rights trump yours.

[4] The FTC list must work with those of the states, meaning that you should have fewer agencies to deal with since the FTC list will include the prohibited numbers from each of the states.

[5] I agree; this legislation does not go nearly far enough. I don't want calls from any of the organizations you list. Neither do I want to receive direct mail or see billboards. If you check out the principles on BadAds.org (the right-hand column), you'll see exactly why these forms of advertising should be stopped, preferably voluntarily but through legislation when needed.

I agree that the FTC's proposed "do not call" list is not good for everyone, but it is good for me and a few million other U.S. citizens who want the government to protect our rights to be free from commercial speech within our homes. No argument you can make will trump this right.

Hello. I am very excited to discover your site, which I learned about through the NoMovieAds.com home page.

I feel that all Americans have an obligation to draw a line in the sand regarding the continuing encroachment of commercialism and corporate sponsorship in all aspects of our lives.

Certainly high on this list would be what you call "bad ads," and the worst of these must be advertising that we are forced to deal with due to our "captive" state.

The two highest "captive" ad offenses on my list are movie theater ads and Blockbuster and other video stores – you know, the kinds of stores that used to have movies playing all the time but now use your presence in their stores as a bogus opportunity to cross-promote a range of products and services I call "infotainment."

Keep up the good fight!

– Jon Reed

Read Jon's rants against Blockbuster and Cinemark at JonReed.com.

Sirs, in the past year the commercials preceding the movie have gotton out of control! Ten minutes of this! Lately, though, the crowd has started booing and jeering. I don't anticipate that the theatre management really cares, since they are getting paid to play the commercials, and no doubt they've signed a contract to do so...

We definitely intend to boycott those products, and continue to jeer through the commercials. It has become a noise-making sport locally.

As a last resort, we will wait until the picture comes out on video or satellite, and tab through any commercials...

– Jane Cooper

Boycotts are delightful ideas, but be sure to inform the theater owner of your decision. He must know why you no longer attend; otherwise he will have no reason to change his practice and will instead likely try to sell more advertising space to make up the shortfall.

Here's a way to block spam from coming to your Inbox at Yahoo! Mail. From the main Yahoo! Mail screen, go into "Mail Options," then into "Filters." Basic Yahoo! accounts have the option to filter up to fifteen different things. Nearly every piece of spam is sent with the following words [or parts of words] somewhere in the e-mail, words I call the "fourteen dirty words": subscrib, subscription, unsub, introduc, opt, solicited, deliveries, third-party, remove, offers, member, enhance, mailings.

(Lengthy explanation of how filters work.)

Another thing to try is looking up the sender in a "Who Is" query. [Visit SamSpade.org, enter the spammed URL in the leftmost box next to the "WhoIs" button, and hit enter.] It will give you the person or people who own the website. It gives you names, telephone numbers and addresses. If someone really wanted to, they could possibly show up to the owner of the domain name and cause havoc over the spam they received. Not that I'm advocating causing havoc, but it's an idea.

I am extremely tired of receiving unwanted advertising, to the point where I'm pissed off about seeing so much advertising on TV, in movie theaters and everywhere else someone can stick a product placement.

On a side note, about junk mail coming to the inbox: Has anyone tried calling the senders of the junk mail (snail mail) to find out how they got their information, and going to the source of the junk mail, and telling them to stop sending you the mail?

– Derek Martin

Filters can help reduce spam, but you have a better shot at eliminating spam by getting rid of your Yahoo! (or AOL or Hotmail) address and using an address from a less common domain. If you must keep your Yahoo! or AOL account, choose a random series of digits and letters instead of MaryP37@aol.com or firstname_lastname@yahoo.com because spammers will try every combination of common names, often with great success.

As for junk mail, Eric often asks catalog companies how they purchased his name and the operator invariably has no idea. That's understandable because he wasn't involved and wasn't taught what the tracking numbers on the catalog mean. Thanks for suggesting this topic; maybe we can research and write about it later.

I fell in passionate love with your website today. As a student majoring in Communications, I am actively involved in Media Criticism and deconstructing ads that seem to infiltrate our lives. I feel as though I cannot partake in any activity that doesn't include advertisments in one way or another: TV, movies, internet, email, telephone, and all around me as I am travelling from work or school. Even during a quiet stroll through a park... ads somehow find their way to get to you, maybe on the side of a city trashcan or the like.

I am sick of filtering through 90 emails about how to enlarge my penis. I don't even have one in the first place. These spammers act like they know you personally, whether they are talking directly to the viewer through television or calling you up in the middle of your dinner.

It makes my urge to vomit reside when I see that there are other people out there working hard to stop this abuse and to win us back our freedom to live without advertisments being shoved down our throats.

Hats off to you. I will be sharing this website with my classmates and teachers, and will also send links to it to as many people as I can. Keep up the hard work.

– Manda Rose

This has always gulled me and if you know better than I, I would greatly appreciate an answer. My question is: why are there advertisements on cable television? With the prices of cable television skyrocketing upwards and over $70, why are viewers subjected to advertisements on their televisions?

If a consumer has a television and an antenna, the television programs the consumer watches on his television set are free thanks to commercial advertising between shows. However, if a person pays nearly $100 a month for digital cable television and still must see commercials, where does the money go that would have normally paid for the air time of the TV shows if the consumer was using an antenna? Millions of dollars are lining someone's pockets, but it's certainly not the consumer who is being burdened by ever increasing cable costs!

Is my line of reasoning incorrect? I mean, if consumers pay for a telephone connection and advertisers call consumers at their homes, the US government wants to get involved to put a stop to this telemarketing practice. Telephone, television – both are services consumers pay for but where telephones are considered violated due to advertisements, televisions are not and therefore are inundated with advertising pollution!

What's next? Advertisements already seep into our homes via televisions, telephones, computers, radios, and written media that consumers suscribe to. Should we next expect to hear ads before our favorite CDs play music? Perhaps we should soon look for something in the water?

– Shawn Jones

Whatever you pay for cable television covers the cost of the transmission of the programs, not the programs themselves. The programs are paid for with television ads, which – while annoying – cannot be considered intrusive since you have to go out of your way to watch them. Your telephone bill is similar to your cable bill in that you pay a fee for access to this medium, not for content delivered over the medium.

By the by, we've heard that some music companies have experimented with releasing MP3 files that contain a short ad before the song. Again we would not consider these ads intrusive since you're getting the song for free.

P.S. $70+ for cable! We pay less than $10 for basic cable with none of the frills or extra channels. Maybe you live in the wrong part of the country....

Great job! I've wanted to start a site like this for the last year!

One suggestion: We need to educate people to stop tolerating this, and the best way to do that is to have all of us start talking through the ads in the theater. We've been doing that for a while now, and inevitably someone asks you to pipe down, to which we respond that we didn't pay to see the ads in the theater. That usually gets them thinking and generates a comment or grunt of agreement from a few people in earshot. I think this will go a long way to creating the dissatisfaction that the theatre owners will listen up to. Never had an usher yet try to hush any of us for talking.

Also, have you considered raising funds to advertise your site and message at the theater? Fight fire with fire! Even the slide show ads are cheap but would generate attention (with an ironic and humorous twist to the ad). What do you think?

– Tim Ritter

We'd love to get many more grunts of agreement, but raising funds isn't in the picture for now. Do please keep talking, though, and spreading the word to others.

A couple of months ago I wrote two of the firms you listed to get off the telemarketing lists, but it doesn't appear to have done much good. Any suggestions? Thanks.

– Carl Odom

Not every telemarketing company belongs to the DMA, and those that don't will not check your phone number against the DMA's "do not call" list. The FCC still has no national "do not call" list so that's not an option currently.

We don't know what to suggest other than telling telemarketers to remove your name and number from their lists. Some folks we know used to screen their phone calls to avoid sales pitches, but since they never told the companies to stop calling, the volume of calls remained constant. Once they finally started answering the phone (at our insistence) and telling these companies to stop, the number of calls did lessen.

In addition, when you subscribe to magazines or place catalog orders, include a note requesting that the company not sell your name or add it to any list. Magazine subscriptions and phone/online orders generate many follow-up calls and mailings; after all, if you've bought once, you're likely to buy again.

Also, we suggest not filling out warranty cards for any product you buy. Some companies use the contact information to call you to try to sell extended warranty coverage. Along the same lines, if a store asks for personal information when you make a purchase (such as your ZIP code or phone number), tell them to get stuffed. They don't need it, and their hokum about using it for market research "to serve you better" is plain insulting.

Thought you might be interested in this website: Hush the Bus set up to fight against the noise pollution from bus TV advertising in Hong Kong.

Also check out theRoadShow Web site in which one of the companies that produces bus TV unabashedly claims to be "a highly effective multi-media advertising platform that pushes your products and services to reach a mass audience in a captive environment."

– Penny Gwenn

(Hush the Bus is a little wonky on Netscape, but if you have IE or another browser, check it out – especially the section titled "Submit Complaints." It lists e-mail addresses for the bus companies, government officials, and two dozen advertisers so that HK riders can voice their complaints. We at BadAds greatly approve.)

Great Web Site!

I went to my local Safeway grocery store, which was recently remodeled. It now has 3 large tv monitors which produce advertising, both audio and video, while I shop.

I find this irritating beyond description. I located the "off" button on the back of the monitor and turned the darned thing off. No one seemed to notice, and it made my shopping experience much better.

Other than direct action, what can be done about this very intrusive form of advertising? Our local McDonalds has tv monitors by the cashiers, broadcasting adverting for toothpaste and other products. Talk about bad trends!

– Allen Lillie

Wow, Safeway sounds like it's really trying to drive folks to other supermarkets! Taking direct action is always a good first step. You can be sure that Safeway employees are bothered by the noise even more than you are, and they will silently thank you for turning the tube off.

Next, you might want to contact Safeway headquarters and let the folks in charge – such as Chairman, President, and CEO Steven A. Burd – know they made a bad decision. The toll-free number is 1-877-723-3929, and you can write to Mr. Burd's assistant. (Supposedly, Mr. Burd doesn't have e-mail, but I'd wager that you can write to Steven.Burd@safeway.com or Steve.Burd@safeway.com and get your message in his hands.)

Finally, of course, you can choose to take your business to another, quieter supermarket, one more conducive to your needs. Mr. Burd should know about this.

As for McDonald's, since each location has its own owner, you'd probably receive the best reaction by asking what days the owner is on site and delivering your complaint in person.

Since we find it unlikely that McDonald's executives would countenance diluting their marketing messages with those of others, you could also drop a line to corporate headquarters: 1-800-244-6227, or its online contact form.

Hope this helps!

Look you bunch of ignorant, red neck, stuffed shirt, assanine fools of a particular nature of stupidity, in your list of where you get advrtisement, how come you left out the United States Postal Service. Could it be that some of you jackasses work there. Why don't you send your complaint letters to the USPO for all the junk mail you get at YOUR MAIL BOX that is unsolicited and in your P.O. Box. Why don't you send some jerky letters to all the TV stations about their commercials, you did not ask for them, OH excuse me you are getting to see something that the commercials are paying for. Well how come your small brain don't understand that most of the nice Internet would not be free if these e-mail advertisements were not able to promote the websites that make profits. Simple the internet is the TV Stations, the advertisers are the Website owners who pay and the consumer is you. Don't you feel like an idiot now. Guess not because all you A.H.'s sit on your small brains... You stupid A.H. don't have the guts to print my comments on this site. Just like your utter stupidity is so emphatically misfounded by an intense desire to have the internet just for you and your privacy which is not when you ridiculously expose yourself by g iving all these advertisers the information they need to get to you to begin with. That is even dumbber than your objection.

– Ed Signore

Wow, you've written such a well reasoned, intelligent message that we've seen the error of our ways and will recant everything we've ever written on the topic of intrusive advertising.

Anyway, to comment on the substance of your remarks, we do have a link on our link page for a site that tells you how to reduce your volume of junk mail. Perhaps we should make this a separate page, but many other sites already include info about the DMA "do not mail" list so we didn't.

Your comment about TV ads is ridiculous; not turning it on = no ads.

Your remarks about the Internet are equally silly. The Internet – or rather many Web sites on the Internet such as CNN.com, Plastic, and BadAds – are free precisely because the operators of those sites do not charge for access. Ads on free sites are an acceptable advertising medium precisely because without the ads, the sites probably wouldn't exist.

Spammed e-mail advertisements, on the other hand, make Internet access more expensive because ISPs must try to filter out these messages to ensure their servers do not crash. Ads for herbal viagra, mortgage vendors, and cock enhancers do nothing to make the Internet cheaper. The fact the Joe Schmoe e-mails ten thousand people and sells fifteen orders of herbal viagra does nothing to keep the Internet functioning because Joe Schmoe does not donate a percent of his sales to the (non-existent) "owner" of the Internet to help pay the bills.

I have no idea what the last part of your message means. You're welcome to write again if you can phrase your ideas coherently.

Sure, we'll print your poorly written letter filled with multiple spelling and grammar errors, even though posting it merely points out who the "ignorant, red neck, stuffed shirt, assanine fool of a particular nature of stupidity" really is. We hope you're okay with that, ya dirty spammer.

I have been annoyed by intrusive direct marketing for years.

I also have been annoyed by the tracking and profiling of individual consumer activity.

It seems that the free software that I get for my computer is the worse offender, but even when I buy the software for full price it still invades my privacy as if the money that I have given them is not enough to satisfy them.

Even the Encryption Software that I get for protecting my privacy is in the act of tracking my activities on the Internet so that it can send me advertisments. That is why I have decided to say "See You Later Alligator" to them. They are a bunch of frauds.

The best solution that I have found to solve the problem is not new laws though. They can find ways to get around laws, or the laws would be so tightly written that they would cause problems for everyone, even us.

I have found that false leads will mess up the marketers more than laws will. Wild wandering from one topic to another on the Internet will confuse the tracker's software to the point that it will throw off the results. Any creative way that can be found to feed the marketing world some inaccurate info would mess up the whole operation for them.

The purpose of all of the spying that goes on is to find efficient, cost effective ways to market only to receptive consumers. If you can find ways to make the marketers send ads for refrigeration appliances to Scandanavians, and snow shoes to The Amazon Rain Forest, it would waste a lot of marketing capital.

Finally though it is not the junk mail or spam that causes most of the trouble. If sales people were all who got the info it would not be much trouble. The problem is that the info gets into the hands of other people who can use it in harmful ways that cause loans to be harder or expensive to get, or they may make insurance harder or more expensive to get, or the info may get into the hands of present or potential employers. There are many people who specialize in predicting future behavior by looking at established past or present behavior. Even though those predictions are often wrong they still persist in being a problem. Extrapolation works with other things, but when dealing with Humans there are so may extraneous variables that extrapolation usually leads to false predictions.

– William

I came across your site, and though it's an OLD rant about movie advertisments and over priced popcorn, this article on CNN.com will shed a little light on it. Movie theater owners place the ads and price the snacks because 85% of the ticket price goes to the movie production companies. They are the greedy ones, not the independant cinema owners. $2 a person and less is the return they get on every customer. Factor in the lease of property, rent of the film itself, maintenance of the projectors, the cost of labor (actually PAYING your employees), and everything else – theater owners have NO choice but to charge 5 bucks for a popcorn, and sometimes in a lower market, place advertisment slide shows. I think you have vinalized the wrong person. Even large chains with staff of hundreds and in the big cities still have to place advertisments, for them the return on the box office can be even less because they get 3X as many customers.

– Fred

Movie theater owners are indeed free to charge $65 for popcorn and show lots of ads before performances, but we reject those theaters and urge others to do the same. Plenty of theaters exist that charge reasonable prices for food and drinks and refrain from showing ads. Why apologize for theater owners and subject yourself to unfavorable conditions when you have options?

Where you can find ads in Canada:

1-On lamp posts, usually at stop lights
2-Printed throughout college/university day planners
3-With my credit card and utility bills!
4-In newspaper articles
5-On the 6 o'clock news
6-On car license plate frames
7-On my Pizza Pizza box
8-In 15 minutes of trailers before every VHS rental
9-Printed on the grocery store floor
10-While on hold waiting with just about any company!

– Kelly Amaral

Please, please lobby the FAA to make the restriction against dirigible, zeppelin, and other form of Hindenberg blimp harrassment of urban centers permanent! Has anyone at BadAds noticed that this particularly obnoxious form of subjecting citizens to Marlboro, Budwieser, Firestone tire and HMO advertising has been absent from our not-so-friendly skies since 9-11?? Someone figured out these gas bags could also be dribbling anthrax I guess instead of just toxic visual and noise pollution of what might otherwise be a peaceful evening attempting to engage in the peaceable enjoyment of one's home!!

Here in Oakland, the local cowboy type FAA office used to approve the simultaneous flying over crowded stadiums of as many as five different private aircraft to ply the crowd with badadz at considerable risk. One of these Hindenbergs even crashed into an Oakland restaurant, still open, called Oyster Reef, recently.

The rights of a corporation to harrass the citizenry with these gastank fired gasbags does not exceed the rights of citizens to feel safe at home and be able to look up and see blue sky instead of Goodyear!!! FAA: 800-322-7873.

– Jim Doherty

My Culture Jamming exploits:

Some friends and I culture jammed by handing out fliers at the mall and putting them on car windshields for Buy Nothing Day. I got some postcards from Adbusters to hand out in the mall and I gave some to kids at my high school. I put up some signs about it in my school and made stickers using labels from the postal service and cut off the priority label logo. I wrote "Fight Corporate Power! www.adbusters.org" I stuck those around the mall and on bus stop advertisements.

At gas stations I cut down the tobacco advertisements with scissors (you know the ones with little cheap plastic cords to hold them on the pole?) and threw them in dumpsters. You'd be surprised at how much you can get away with in broad daylight. I've cleaned up most of the tobacco advertisements at the gas stations in my neighborhood.

I also got a rubber stamp that says www.adbusters.org and I stamp all the dollar bills that I come across.

One time I was in New York City and I handed out anti-McDonalds fliers in front of a McDonalds. Boy, was the manager pissed! He tried to make me leave and threatened to call the cops, but by law you are allowed to stand on public sidewalk and hand out literature. I didn't find out if he called the cops or not because I left about 10 minutes later. I had already been there for about 30 minutes anyway and had to catch a train. There are so many different ways to educate people about corporations; I would really recommend that you get into culture jamming. You don't even have to do something illegal.

Some sites to check out about culture jamming:

www.adbusters.org
www.corpwatch.org
www.complacent.org
www.diyrevolution.com
www.rtmark.com

Anybody want to talk about their own culture jamming adventures? Please do. I'd love to hear your experiences or ideas for the future. It would educate everyone who reads this story.

– Culture Jammer

In Sydney, the screens on train platforms that play a monotonous loop of ads come with sound. As such it is obnoxious and in many cases makes holding a conversation or trying to peacefully read a book whilst waiting impossible.

– Daniela

There's a much easier way to take care of street spam. I had a sign on the pole right outside my apartment that had some weight loss scam on it. I simply changed the phone # on it to the local police department non-emergency line. The sign was taken down about three days later.

– Troy

Finally – a place to vent about ads without people thinking I'm nuts!

1) First of all I won't buy myself or my kids ANY LOGO CLOTHING...Gap, Old Navy, etc. sweatshirts designed to look like Alumni clothing...My kids and I aren't walking billboards...

2) I work in Chicago and am sick unto death with the UGLY ads on public transit buses, especially the ones where the ENTIRE bus is wrapped in an ad. What eyesores! Not that buses are beautiful, but we do have a few buses in Chicago that have been painted by student artists that are wonderful. But they don't make money for the city I guess!

3) At a local mall there are scrolling ads, interspersed with "art." I don't know what they're called but they are obnoxious – when you're at a mall, you're probably going to be spending money...why do we have to see this stuff?

– Wendy Melto

Hi. I just found your website and had no idea so many other people feel the way I do. To think I was alone! I also was one of the idiots who had AOL-free,(I traded in my Gateway and a year of free AOL came with it). I just couldn't figure out how that stupid Pantene ad kept popping up in the MIDDLE of my screen. And when I scrolled down to get away from it (because I couldn't close it), it followed me!!! I realized it was taking forever to download stuff that used to take 1/2 as long. I've just started taking action to exercise my privacy rights, what little I have, by 'opting-out' and writing all my credit card companies and my bank. It's unbelievable how our privacy is being exploited and sold. Then when the s*it hits the fan because someone stole your identity due to irresponsibility of the company/bank that authorized an account in your good name, you're on your own to sort through the mess. And oh what a mess it is. Please keep your site up, and thanks for the hard work!

– Tina

An informative site. Right up there with Adbusters.org... As a beginning student activist, I would recommend this site to any student out there who gets irked at the site of an ad in their school and wants to do something about it!

– John Thomassen

I myself work in advertising, and am always interested in hearing other people's opinions. I just wanted to say that I understand how people feel...the amount of advertising out there can be quite overwhelming and annoying at times. I am not excluded from feeling that. Yet, at the same time, one must realize that not all marketers and advertisers are trying to manipulate and undermine the consumer. Some of us are honestly here to inform the consumer. Realistically speaking, without these many forms of advertising, how would one ever know about new products or their uses?

I have only one last comment. For those complaining about telemarketers...you think it's bad getting those phone calls? Maybe you should try to be the one doing the calling. Some people in that line of work are just trying to make an honest living, to survive. The next time you get a call from a telemarketer, try to keep that in mind and think about how you would feel having someone yell and swear at you, and get hung up on. It's not a fun job, so try to be polite. All you have to do is say "No, thank you" and hang up.

– Valerie Black

We know that telemarketers are merely trying to do their jobs. That's the problem. Their job is to call people who don't want to be called and bother them. Anyone who has a problem with this should look for another line of work.

As for your comment on learning "about new products and their uses," we say fine, tell us everything you can about your widget – but only in an advertising medium that we can avoid if we choose to do so. We at BadAds are not concerned about the content of ads; only about the medium in which they're delivered.

In regard to the article about ads on spacecraft, I think there is a chance we should capitalize on obnoxious oportunities. There are so many unexploited avenues for predatory marketing out there that perhaps we should sell our ideas to the sharks. For instance, funeral homes, lawyers, doctors and rehab clinics may want to place ads inside ambulances and rescue vehicles. Given the rise in shark attacks on ocean beaches, perhaps these same folks should consider hiring "banner planes" to fly over popular resort beaches. Lawyer ads on cigarette packs may prove lucratative.

Given that many states sell vehicle owner info to marketers, maybe we could lower our license fees if the states would place ads on vehicle license plates. What the hell, how many of us drive around with a car dealer name and logo on our cars now?

In light of widespread layoffs in the slower economy, many homeowners could perhaps forestall forclosure by allowing mortage company ads to be painted on their homes. They could sell ad spaces on the kids' backbacks and the little guys could go to school looking like a NASCAR driver.

– Mike Cayley

Mike, thanks for the terrifying ideas. If we see any of these come into existence, we're visiting your home and pulping you in our juicer.

Me and my grandma went on a bike ride on the W&OD Bike trail near my house. You know how highways have those signs that say "Adopt a highway Boyscout pack 11"? Well the one on the trail said "Adopt a trail Jim Emery Photography." Thats all I have to say. Thanks for listening to me.

– Adam Ferguson

To call customer service for AT&T Broadband in my area entails being "on hold" for 30-45 minutes. During that time they run a constant barrage of ads for their premium services from a guy in a loud voice. It actually is faster to drive the 15 miles to their office and wait in line where they have one customer service rep and 2 security guards. (They actually need two security guards because they are a monopoly, and after you've treated people like this, to then have a bunch of them all together in one room is an explosive situation. I can only imagine the kind of scenes that have taken place there, although what I did see was rather chilling.)

– Steven John

Travelling in Connecticut recently, I found a strange little interactive card game/advertising thing on little monitors at the Big Y grocery checkout. In addition to being incredibly distracting, they slow up the line.

My own local grocery store recently placed head-sized monitors at the checkouts, ostensibly to show you the transaction, but conveniently showing a slide show of ads as well. I complained, as I feel it dehumanizes the chashier – right next to her head, there's something bright and flashing, what are you going to look at? But the complaint was logged and basically blown off. Oh well.

– Janet Lowry

I gotta tell you up front that I hold telemarketers in the same high regard usually reserved for child molesters, infectious diseases, vermin infestations and natural disasters. Over the last few months, I have taken steps to thwart these pests and was very successful, having virtually eliminated unwanted, unsolicited and invasive privacy intrusions.

In the meantime, I had established a business relationship with my local Ford dealer to perform preventative maintainance on my vehicle during the winter months when it wasn't practical to do it myself. I also took the trouble to establish a friendly relationship with the "customer relations manager" at the dealership and made it clear to him that I expected my personal data to be kept confidential. I was assured that it would not be a problem, that the dealership DID NOT share, sell, rent or furnish customer data to third parties.

Well, guess what? One night about two weeks ago, I get a telepest call on behalf of the dealership, trying to sell me some crap I don't need. When I ask for the name, address and phone number of the call center, the in-articulate, nasty, sorry excuse for a person hung up on me. Big time violation of the TCPA! I called the dealership and the General Manager admitted that they let the info out and "so what?" The so-called "customer relations manager" never returned my calls.

Of course my phone rings constantly now with pre-recorded messages, offers for "free" stuff and other assorted cow plop. The bell has been rung, and ya can't un-ring it. I've had to use my answering machine to screen calls and that inconveniences family and friends. All my efforts are down the tube. I refuse to go to the expense of paying Ameritheft for extra call block services. Changing my number now would be a major problem, so in the spirit of doing my civic duty to warn my fellow citizens of predators, I am pleased to post the name and address of the offender. Folks in the Detroit area should take note.

Atchinson Ford, Inc
9800 Bellville Road
Bellville, Mi 48111
Phone: 734-697-9161
Fax: 734-697-9866

– Mike Cayley

RIGHT ON!!!!! What a helpful tool this site is. I am an unfortunate idiot that received AOL for free and even free the cost has been way too high! I have contacted them repeatedly about all the garbage, pop-ups, etc. every time I log on and they send me a form-letter type response telling me the ADVANTAGES of using AOL.

I also have a few words for those attempting to lead my nine-year-old boy down the path of destruction. Of course, there are many of those, but one by one with your help maybe my comments will actually reach someone that listens!

– Laurie Lenz

I think that Excite may have gotten some complaints about their supposed "transfer" to their voicemail accounts. You see, the supposed time needed to transfer your call contained the perfect amount of time for an ad. Isn't that just the greatest coincidence?

– Benji

I enjoyed the film 'Evolution' up until it turned into a shampoo advert at the end. Before that it was fun, but when they started killing aliens by squirting prominently-branded shampoo at them, I felt embarrassed for the actors concerned and ripped off that I paid to watch an advert.

– Sean McManus

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me that the focus of businesses has shifted from providing quality goods and services to hyping what they want the consumer to believe. I call it the "lowest common denominator factor" or "how to snag the largest number of bottom feeders with the least amount of effort and expense."

Why concentrate on value for the dollar when carpet-bombing advertising tactics will make the bottom line look good? So what if most of the customers aren't satisfied. "The suckers paid us, we got the money, we don't care if they come back. Our obnoxious ads will snag more suckers."

Sounds like a modern version of a Ponzi scheme to me. I guess that until there are more fed up skeptical consumers, this crap will continue. Thanks for the rant!

– Mike Cayley

My cable system in West Springfield, MA, now owned by AT&T, has recently switched over to digital cable boxes. Every time you change the channel, a large ad for TV Guide pops up along with another ugly, unwanted ad for some service or another. I called the company about this and discovered that there is no way to turn this intrusion off. All you can do is reduce the amount of time the ad shows to about 2 or 3 seconds. This is extremely annoying. The cable company gets another revenue stream and all we can do is take it in the rear as our cable rates climb higher and higher.

– Steve Dondley

The Captivate Network's flatscreen ads have moved beyond the elevator and are ready for the audiences waiting in line at some McDonald's fast food stores and Ralph's Supermarkets. So now instead of wondering if the Bat Boy will ever make it back onto the cover of the Weekly World News, of even contemplating an impulse purchase of candy, gum and razors, you can be asked if you "got milk," Rice-a-Roni, or whatever other crap is on special.

And of course, the ad content is directed. At the McDonald's in Century City, California (an upscale business area) the programming is CNN-style factoids and sports scores, with banner ads on top and bottom of the screen, whereas at the supermarket it tends to be for newer, novelty food items. Like M&M's ice cream, Taco Bell brand salsa, or Pilsbury pre-formed cookie-dough pellets.

– Datsun

May I suggest another invasive form of ads to complain about? These are the commercials that companies, banks, and even public utilities play when you are on hold. When this happens, the caller is generally too distracted from the ads to be able to do anything else, such as reading e-mail or engaging in other useful work. When someone is screaming in my ear I just can't direct my attention to anything else. My efforts so far have not produced any change. Occasionally I'll encounter arrogance when talking to the top guy and they'll say "It's not going to change" or "Our customers like the ads." I don't believe that.

– Dave

Having spent several years on the sports marketing side of the fence, let me respond.

As a purist, I hate to see sporting events all trashed up with advertising; however, as a realist I recognize that the money generated by these ad programs ultimately funds the sports themselves. High visibility is what attracts advertisers. Furthermore, the networks pay substantial rights fees to broadcast these events. These rights fees are determined by the sports organizations (NFL, NBA, etc.). If the NFL wants to help reduce the advertising static, they need to reduce their rights fees accordingly, thereby making it less necessary for the network to sell more and more advertising to justify their investment.

In order to show a profit on their investment, the network must find new and innovative ways to attract the advertiser to a given audience. In their world, a blank space isn't selling anything, therefore not generating income, and is wasted air.

If it becomes unprofitable to carry an event, the networks will not do it. That's pure economics. Don't believe for second that the networks carry LPGA, NASCAR, or any sport just because people like to watch them. Their job is to deliver an AUDIENCE to the advertiser, not an event to the viewer. NASCAR was a non-television sport until the advertisers determined it was an audience they wanted to reach.

Providing more clever ways to insert the sponsors message, thereby increasing revenue, is the network's obligation to their shareholders. It is naive to think they give priority to the viewer.

This is just one facet of a large and complex issue, but I do yearn for the old days when we weren't bombarded with so many messages.

– Dan Beahan

Thanks for your thoughtful message, Dan. It's funny that you yearn for the old days while simultaneously claiming that networks have no responsibility for the fees they pay sports leagues. The networks bid for the right to broadcast these sporting events, so they have only themselves to blame for these costs. In any case, we don't have to bend over and shoulder the intrusive ads they choose to shovel on us. Networks need to keep this fact in mind.

Sounds to me you people have a problem with america trying to make a living [1]. So what if people come up with better ways to advertise. It got your attention did'nt it [2]? If you don't like it stay home, don't travel [3]. To make a web site about this is crazy. How about ad. space on here [4]? I know you not doing this web site out of good heart [5]. Someone is a hipacrit!

– Bobby Sellers

1. No, we have a problem with people invading our homes and lives in their attempt to make a living.

2. So if it works, it must be right? Now we understand.

3. You're telling thousands of people who dislike intrusive advertising to never leave their homes in order to avoid looking at the ads. Wouldn't it be easier for you to simply not look at this site? In any case, even staying home wouldn't save consumers from having to deal with spam, faxed ads, door-to-door salespeople, and telemarketers.

4. I'm hard pressed to find any ads on our site. Please point them out.

5. Just because you don't like a site doesn't mean its creators have some evil ulterior motive. We make no money from this site. We're a pair of freelance writers, and it takes hours of our working time to write and maintain this site. The domain name registration costs $75. The Internet access is $100 per year. The BadAds stickers we send out cost $50 per box. Talented friends donated their design and coding expertise. So we're actually LOSING money on this site, and we do it because we care about the cause. So there.

I hate it. Everywhere I look, I see ads.

I check my mail and there are ads in there. I didn't ask for them. Why did you give them to me?

My "personal information" is now the personal property of thousands of impersonal corporations trying to sell me a new wet-vac or dog-hair remover. I don't have a dog and I don't spill anything, except when I look in my mailbox and jump in shock at the amount of ads stuffed in there and drop my glass of milk. Then I cry.

Help me stop the pain and keep on keeping on. Thanks for the work guys.

– Asad Kiyani

I was flying out of Burbank, CA recently and while waiting for the shuttle bus in the airport long-term parking lot, I was subjected to a lengthy commercial blaring from speakers in the bus pick-up stations.

When the speaker crackled to life, I'd hoped it would provide some useful information, such as "the next bus will be here in "x" minutes" or "the airline you are flying on has just declared bankruptcy." Instead, a long infomercial about a new book (travelers like to read on planes, don't they? And airport stores sell books...) which was so loud I was forced to move as far as I guessed I could from the bus shelter and still be in bus pick-up range.

Given the choice of hearing this every trip or parking somewhere else, it's an easy decision.

– Bob

Great to see you're doing this. Another definition of a bad ad: one that links personal feelings to purchases. I know, they all do. But if you set up a scale and rate each ad, you'll find some that really push the envelope.

For more of my thoughts on this, see "Truth in Advertising" at http://davelippman.com/publications/shooting.html.

– Dave Lippman

Great site. Found it from a link on schoolcommercialism.org. I'm researching corporate funds in primary through higher education, it is disgusting. I work at a university that recieves big bucks from Pepsi in return for exclusive advertising and selling rights campus wide and would love to have some stickers to distribute.

– Sally Blixt

– Matt Korth

I was in Tula (Russia) last September. This city, although close to Moscow, is still relatively untouched by large-scale advertisement. Being from Canada and used to being surrounded by screaming posters, boards and other forms of advertisement, I felt somewhat insecure to be in such an ad-less place. The feeling was thoroughly unsettling. It seems that the real world for me is made of incredibly attractive people playing volleyball on a beach while smoking and drinking beer.

– Guillaume Legros

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