Daily exposure to advertising

From Anywhere the Eye Can See, It’s Now Likely to See an Ad by Louise Story in The NY Times:

Yankelovich, a market research firm, estimates that a person living in a city 30 years ago saw up to 2,000 ad messages a day, compared with up to 5,000 today. About half the 4,110 people surveyed last spring by Yankelovich said they thought marketing and advertising today was out of control.

As a society, we invest in the tools of marketing, not the resources people need to cope with it. In fact, none other than David Ogilvy believed certain types of advertising should be prohibited: he opposed political advertising and he urged that it should be restricted to print medium.* Political action on this issue will take time; in the meantime, individuals need to develop their their internal defense mechanism against this advertising onslaught. Quality of life is at stake.

* Confessions of an Advertising Man

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