Now, why would a company send ME a helicopter ad, or an ad that talks about how United Technologies is building the air conditioning for China's Olympic facilities?
I'll tell you why. They're not interested in reaching me. They're using the flyer as a pretext for giving a lot of money to the daily paper. That makes the publisher think twice about the issues that affect that company-- in this case, criticizing China, critizing the war, funding for the war, arm manufacturing (including aircraft, like helicopters."
We see a lot of this kind of advertising in newspapers, on TV, on radio. The companies don't have a product or service to sell. They may provide secondary products or services-- supplying raw materials to other companies, or providing services to other companies, but they don't have a direct reason for advertising, except, they might suggest, to boost public awareness and appreciation for their company. Archer Midland Daniels is an example of this kind of advertising.
If the reason the advertisers are forking over hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars to lamestream media companies is influence, that's a very, VERY bad thing.
The mainstream media are already doing a bad job. A new study showed the US media to be 48th, world-wide in terms of freedom. That is shameful and horrific-- a despicable blot against freedom and democracy.
I've begun to change the channel when I find offensive content on a program. Sometimes its the focus on stupid celebrity junk news, like Paris Hilton or Brittany Spears. Sometimes its incompetent journalism, where the reporter doing an interview engages in stenographic reporting, failing to challenge or question or add depth to statements interviewees make. And I change the channel when megacorporation sponsors ads appear. They don't belong there. They are blatant attempts to influence the media.
We're' working on a website that makes it easy for you to tell the media and their ad sponsors when you're not happy with them. More on that to come.
