The A.E.H. Cometh!

There are more products in more categories, and more variations thereof, than ever before. Which means more adverts competing for our attention.

Once upon a time (like, a decade ago) it was relatively easy to "get the message out". TV was a captive audience of many millions. Ongoing sagas, such as the Bisto family and the Gold Blend couple, became part of mainstream culture. Today, TV audiences are falling, and technology helps us filter out the adverts. Doom. The 'Net is awash with adverts - but technology helps us filter them out. More doom. People are busier than ever, spending more time and energy working and playing, interacting and chilling. Extra doom. Advertisers have infiltrated blogs, Second Life, etc and so on; but technology helps us filter them out. Only the least intrusive and most relevant 'verts seem to work (e.g. Google Adwords). But time and technology wait for no one: even the mighty Google is vulnerable.

The cost of sale is rising. So is the value of my time. These trends are related. Each day, despite flashblock and noscript and not watching TV and only listening to BBC radio and working from home, hundreds of 'verts pass before my eyes. Discovering what my choice of shaving foam says about my personality is not high on my agenda. Nor, being a bloke, am I worried about period pains. Adverting is coming dangerously close to spamming, as far as I'm concerned.

I use flashblock, as unwanted animations distract me from pursuing the purpose for which I visited the page. I use noscript for security. I don't watch TV because a) I don't have time! and b) I object to paying a subscription for a service where a quarter of every hour is adverts. I only listen to BBC radio because a) the programs are less tacky, and b) there are no adverts. (Working from home is simply a bonus.)

Are we approaching an Advertising Event Horizon? Will the cost of sale become so high that only products that don't advertise are affordable? Will producers start to pay us to be exposed to their wares? Might I one day be able to go along to a, for example, "Electric Shaver Trial" event where, for an entrance fee, I can try out different shavers and choose one ("half your money back if you don't find what you want").

The world changeth, and the people too ...