[thelist] C|Net's Redesign / Interesting argument...

[Erika Meyer]

I have big reservations about blurring the line between ads and 
content  Yeah, it might make the ads better, and the navigation more 
seamless, but what does it do for the idea of free speech?

I don't understand the claim that TV ads can "enhance" viewer 
experience.  There are only two situations where I feel my viewing 
experience has been enhanced by ads:
  1. when an ad takes a risk that the shows will not: for example, I saw an 
ad recently that pictured a white American couple caring for their Asian 
child.  This is an everyday segment of middle-upper middle class America, 
but it took a cough medicine commercial to bring it media consciousness.

2. when the commercial is more entertaining than the show itself.

I guess I'm unusually in that I hate being interrupted by commercials to 
the point that I rarely watch commercial TV any more.  I canceled my 
subscription to the local paper because I was offended by the fact that 
over 75% of it was devoted to advertising, if only because of the waste of 
resources.

I think it is an interesting and maybe even sad scenario when organizations 
that are supposed to be informing us in a semi-objective manner, for 
example, news organizations, are so deeply dependant on advertising revenue.

But anyway, that's why it's called "corporate media."

I'm not inherently for or against advertising, but I do tend to (almost 
unconsciously) avoid web sites, TV/radio stations, and publications that 
are ad-heavy.  And I find it disconcerting when I am not sure whether what 
I'm reading (or viewing) is an ad or not.  (example: the 
Webmonkey/Hewlett-Packard Flash splash of  Christmas 1998.)

Erika


>In essence, I see it as an attempt by content providers to deliver ads that
>*are themselves part of the content*. This - with today's allegedly
>sophisticated media-savvy punters - could well be the way to go for some
>marketing campaigns.