I try to stay focused on music-related things as much as I can on this site; however, there is a topic I've wanted to discuss in the past and haven't gotten around to mentioning it until now.  It's what I call "intrusive commercialism."  Intrusive commercialism includes telemarketers and people who send spam out through e-mail.  I'm assuming most pop-up advertising on the Web is legitimately paid for and thus a little different; but it is also an unpleasant inconvenience to deal with.

Telemarketers and spammers actively invade our spaces without our consent and willingly throw their products at us with little regard for our feelings.  I always thought an advertiser's goal should be to win over a consumer in a manner that would create a positive relationship and ideally end up in a sale beneficial to all parties involved..  Personally, whenever I receive an unsolicited advertisement or telephone call, I almost automatically make sure to withhold any support of what is being peddled.  To me, it's a simple matter of courtesy.  If these people are not going to respect my time and privacy, then I will not give them my business.

Without getting into a political discussion here, I realize that we live in a capitalistic society here in America.  Money is the dominant driving force in many people's endeavors.  I am not criticizing the economic system in totality because I think there are things about it that have benefited people in a good way.  There are many things about money, though, that leave us all bankrupt in certain areas of life.  I really do believe that economics and money (aside from deeper spiritual issues) are the biggest roots of troubles in the entire world.  Admittedly, I'm not an economist or an intellectual, so perhaps this will all come across as a simplistic and idealistic rant.  So be it.  I actually would like for some things to be simpler to tell you the truth.

One of the great things about the U.S. is that we have more freedom and resources (money) to pursue our ambitions.  Everything is a value judgment in terms of what we think is right and wrong; but Americans certainly have the freedoms to engage in activities and business opportunities that are either prohibited or not feasible in other places due to social and religious conditions.  I don't fault advertisers who are trying to make a living.  Most people are trying to do that.  I just wish that certain capitalistic practices could be engaged in with a sense of conscience.

Junk mail in our real mailboxes is a problem too.  The time it takes to shred or simply throw the stuff away is robbing us of time that could be better used.  It may not seem like much to walk a few extra steps to the garbage can; but add up the time over the years that you've spent deleting e-mails, trashing junk mail, and listening to telemarketing pitches and you can see that it's a pure waste of time.  For the environmentally-conscious people out there...think about the incredible amount of paper waste that junk mail creates.

I'm not begrudging someone's right to advertise.  I think it needs to be done in a manner that interferes minimally with the audience though.  Pop-up ads are bad in the way they work...period.  While they are legitimately paid for, they make the user close them.  It takes effort.  Ads on a webpage are fine as long as they are in a location that doesn't force the user to read or close them.  A consumer will look if they want to.  Make them available to see but don't cram them down the reader's throat.

There are certainly places that are suitable for advertising when permission is given by the hosting property or entity.  To some extent, we don't have control over radio and television ads bombarding us either (other than to turn them off).  Billboards also clutter our landscape, but it is the property owner's right to host the ads I guess.  Something seems disingenuous about being interrupted during dinner time and led into a product solicitation or a scam for some vacation prize over the phone.  There is tasteful advertising and tactics that are much more annoying.

Quite frankly, I don't need an Internet cam.  I have been the "100,000th visitor" to the same website a million times and never once collected a prize.  I don't care where the World's Largest Online Casino is.  I'm not actively seeking an organ enlargement at this time either....(maybe if the complaints become more prevalent)....the point is that we are constantly inundated with crap.  I guess somebody really is making a lot of money somewhere.

I don't have any illusions of this writing bringing about a lot of change, realistically.  I feel better just expressing my thoughts on the matter.  Just remember that you didn't have to read any ads to get to this article.
 

Jason