>>It works, inasmuch as most of the people believe it does. This belief is the only major success of the advertisers.
>
>Conspiracy theories everywhere! Some of your core views may be clouding your understanding. Advertising exists for a simple reason: it works. If you have something to sell and don't advertise, how will people know it exists? Maybe you have the wherewithal to ferret out products from free internet sites, but most people don't. Please understand that I am not saying I think all ads are great. Just that they have a legitimate business function.

Advertising always existed, and always will. It started with people in the market shouting out their wares, the circus posters and whatnot. As long as they stay within their traditional bounds, I don't mind. But when they start intruding into my landscape with huge billboards, into movies by chopping them into pieces or product placement (I don't know which is worse), when they call me at home (or when they call me apartment, as in, "hello, apartment Nedeljković?"), when they staple their ads to my water bill, when they buy stadiums or concert halls so every concert or game there are prefixed with the name they slapped on the place (as in "Bill Blabber and his Bubbles live at Pete's Lemonade Stand Pavillion") - then I find them a huge nuisance and a factor lowering the overall quality of life.

And don't forget how they kill media one by one. They invented spam and made email unreliable. Before spam became widespread, you could be sure your email would be delivered and read. Now you have to take measures to make it so. On the radio, you can't hear any serious talk, because it has to be interrupted every few minutes with ads (and don't go NPR on me, they have ads by other means). You can't hear an honest critique of anything - even new books are mentioned only when the author talks to sell them.

OTOH, I don't mind junk in the snail mail. Most of it ends as kindling :), and I sometimes leaf through the stuff offered by local shops (and then go buy some, but not in that shop :). The paper doesn't shout at me, doesn't try to play on people's general inclination toward politeness and sweettalk me into buying something, doesn't interrupt whatever I was doing/watching/listening, and it burns well.

>Happy new year. It won't be many more hours for you. And may you be our resident curmudgeon again in 2013 ;-)

HNY!

I consider myself elected. One man, one vote. You da man - and I got your vote :).