Too much of a good thing?

[montka]

Does anyone ever feel that we are kind of over exposed to high quality images?

It irks me paticularly that beautiful images are used to fuel demand for unnecessary/vulgar products.

Flashy media is everywhere nowerdays and it is rarely tasteful.

Yes I am ranting/moaning but that is tough sh*t frankly, it is relevant to an art forum!

 

[QuietiManes]

It gets old fast but if I let things like that irk me, I'd have to live in a cave with no human contact or electricity. It's the only way to get away from advertising and advertising will never change, it's just the way it is in a "free" society.

 

[Willdorling]

I've worked in advertising for a newspaper and website for many years and have seen firsthand the increase in attention on the 'impact' for a clients campaigns. Whether that is purely the image, shape or function of the ad, clients want more bang for their buck as their own businesses are often squeezed elsewhere.

Some points to note are;
People are harder to reach nowadays as they increasingly spend less time in a wider variety of media environments.
less time equals harder to engage
harder to engage means images need to be more engaging.........also the message needs to be compelling too.

Motivations for media owners revolve around the increasing difficulty to expect payment for content. This mainly concerns the web as most people expect stuff for free so money to fund content creation must come from commercial partnerships and advertising. I think most media businesses except maybe the major portals would prefer a mixed model which blended payment from users and a more controlled advertising strategy but it's fair to say at the moment that most websites openly need every ad penny they can get.

I kind of agree with the original post but as my employer genuinely produces some of the best and most engaging content (IMO) globally but only with the money of advertisers I accept the current need for it.

 

[generulpoleaxe]

 

[TrystanGST]

It's an arms race. The more annoying (sorry, engaging) an ad is, the harder people try to tune it out. The more the ads get tuned out, the more annoying (there's that word again) the ads get.

 

[Shawn R. L.]

Intense beef jerkey..............

Ummmmmmmmmmm...........?????

 

[montka]

Quite like that last one, lol.

 

[Dragonsreach]

The more annoying (sorry, engaging) an ad is, the harder people try to tune it out.

It's called the MUTE button on the remote.

 

[Kalidane]

Give away your tv(s). Selling them implies they have value. Don't open magazines or newspapers unless it's for, and at, work.

You just gained 10-20 hours each week and have circumvented a goodly amount of people telling you what you want to buy.

Does your razor really need 5 blades? Do you need a super fancy phone that can tell you how to get to the nearest post office? People got by just fine without the newest solution to problems - problems which people often didn't even know they had until the adverb told them about it.

 

[Willdorling]

Give away your tv(s). Selling them implies they have value. Don't open magazines or newspapers unless it's for, and at, work.

You just gained 10-20 hours each week and have circumvented a goodly amount of people telling you what you want to buy.

Does your razor really need 5 blades? Do you need a super fancy phone that can tell you how to get to the nearest post office? People got by just fine without the newest solution to problems - problems which people often didn't even know they had until the adverb told them about it.

Utopian ideas kalidane and some of the sentiment I agree with. But with every ying there is yang. What about the effect on the global economy and workforces following the inevitable drop off in consumption. How should public service messages be properly communicated. What would the effect on charitable donations and the net effect on the good causes that advertise.

A world without tv partly interests me as I would be fascinated what it would look like....it's also fundamental to free press etc. good post, interesting debate

 

[Kalidane]

Utopian ideas kalidane and some of the sentiment I agree with. But with every ying there is yang. What about the effect on the global economy and workforces following the inevitable drop off in consumption. How should public service messages be properly communicated. What would the effect on charitable donations and the net effect on the good causes that advertise.

A world without tv partly interests me as I would be fascinated what it would look like....it's also fundamental to free press etc. good post, interesting debate

Ah you have me there. I was a bit lazy in my thinking.

It's one of those situations where an action is good for an individual but rife with problems were the majority to emulate it.

I'd say there is no 'fix' to this as there is no 'problem'. We live in a consumer society and everything is aligned towards that - govt, media, industry, banking, and whatever I've left out.

Unless you go for Quietimanes' cave notion, there is no avoiding the pressure to have a job to support the debt that you use to buy the stuff you don't want.

 

[TrystanGST]

It's called the MUTE button on the remote.

That's all well and good, if a bit of a cop out, for TV. Wasn't the point of cable television to get away from an advertising based medium?
What about adverts on the radio? How do you know when to turn the volume back up?
What about pop ups? pop overs? pop unders? flash ads? Sure, you can disable flash and run NoScript, but there goes a bunch of site functionality.

My point is, it takes time and effort to keep the advertising from being shoved in our collective faces. And the advertising agencies think this is a good thing?

 

[QuietiManes]

Wasn't the point of cable television to get away from an advertising based medium?
What about adverts on the radio? How do you know when to turn the volume back up?
What about pop ups? pop overs? pop unders? flash ads? Sure, you can disable flash and run NoScript, but there goes a bunch of site functionality.

My point is, it takes time and effort to keep the advertising from being shoved in our collective faces. And the advertising agencies think this is a good thing?

I recently lectured my son about how annoying the advertisements you can't skip past on DVD'S were. I went on and on while we waited for the numerous ads and commentary on a recently inserted DVD and he rolled his eyes at my historical retelling about why people liked DVD's so much when they were first introduced (skipping the ads and FBI warnings).

I believe advertising agencies will soon realize how futile their efforts are, well, they already know this, but soon the companies paying them will realize it too. Then things will get better. Just because you can continue to pretend that James Cameron's AVATAR was a great movie doesn't mean you can deny your house full of "as seen on TV" garbage that broke down day one or never got used. Society is ready to pop that advertising bubble. I feel it!

there is no avoiding the pressure to have a job to support the debt that you use to buy the stuff you don't want

Hey, my resemblance to that remark saddens me. *sets a daily reminder in the smartphone to 'be more realistic'*

 

[Dragonsreach]

It's called the MUTE button on the remote.

That's all well and good, if a bit of a cop out, for TV.
No Not a Cop Out whatsoever, TV advertising is to me an annoyance as the broadcast level of the sound is higher than the main program, which interferes with my Tinnitus.
Plus I rarely utilise advertising in influencing my purchasing choices. Plus as more that 50% of my TV viewing is recorded I'm able to skip past the adverts.
What about adverts on the radio?
What Radio I listen to is rare these days and on the only station I do listen to adverts are limited to once every 20 minutes.
How do you know when to turn the volume back up? That doesn't matter as I tend to mentally "tune them out" in anycase.
What about pop ups? Blocked pop overs? Blocked pop unders? Blocked flash ads? Blocked
Sure, you can disable flash and run NoScript, but there goes a bunch of site functionality. Funny I never seem to have any problem with adverts on the sites I got to must be something to do with my selectivity process.

My point is, it takes time and effort to keep the advertising from being shoved in our collective faces. And the advertising agencies think this is a good thing?

Advertising is a Huge "industry" and like some things you either like it or hate it. Personally I think it wastes more than it produces or supports.

 

[montka]

Getting back to my musings:

Example, I rarely want to comment on people's work because I pretty much always have the same reaction: That is nice/Wow that's amazing/ Holy **** seething with jealousy

90% of models are going to be 'nice but I would: increase contrast, blend smoother (thinner paint, less paint, better brush control), use brighter colours'
I could say that to most stuff I see, so I don't bother as it seems a bit curt when you think 'overall that is really good'.

But it takes wizardry to really impress people in a hobby that attracts thousands of painters.

Not complaining as such, just saying I don't engage with people's posts that much and I don't feel that one gets that much of a reaction for good work only because nice graphics are all around us.

The bright side is that it gives you something to aspire to, that one day you can pull the rabbit out of the hat and really inspire people with something new.

That is just my attitude of course.