It seems that advertising is getting more & more pervasive into what most think of as editorial content. There was a good article in the WSJ about this a few weeks ago and I'm seeing it again on The Onion with their What Do You Think? feature. Check it out and see "Tom McEwan"'s answer and the plug for NetFlix.
That's a very very slick ad - most people would think that's part of a joke, but I bet that NetFlix paid for that.
Not that I'm totally naive about advertising, but I do believe it's wrong to devalue real content with integrated advertising... it will shortly "numb" audiences away from reading or viewing the content - basically what makes them audiences in the first place. I know companies have to make money and advertisers have to get audiences to spend money on the companies they represent, but I believe there should be a sacred ground.
If they keep at it, it's going to be interesting to see the evolution of "content"... the public will demand it and it will exist in one form or fashion.
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Jason
"Yeah...I seem to remember hearing about them. I think their stock ticker is HEH."
"Well, they're hot, Purdy's talking about them. I'm calling my broker now..."
