Internet Advertising †A World Wide Waste of Time Essay -- Argumentati

Internet Advertising – A World Wide Waste of Time As I approach the Philadelphia bus shelter, I'm struck by the gaze of a familiar, yet ominous strongman. His aging muscles are backlit by a powerful fluorescent light. Intrigued, I approach the advertisement and begin to look at the copy. As my eyes scan below the title of the film, an irritating, unavoidable, and inevitably cryptic message glows: http://www.warnerbros.com/eraser. Here is another website for the fearless compujunkies to surf at three in the morning and another piece of litter along the information superhighway. While computer users like myself have the choice to turn off their computers or stop their net searches, it is more and more difficult to remove the strands of the net from our personal lives. When we return home from a long day of work, television now flashes an endless barrage of corporate web addresses at us. When we pick up our newspapers to browse the comics, it is difficult to flip past a handful of pages without spotting a '...dot- com' along the way. The web's marketing frenzy is no longer limited to literature, entertainment, and computer browsing. Within the past few months I have noticed the web's subtle migration from the virtual into the physical. Products ranging from children's cereal to artificial sweeteners all boast web addresses printed on them. Open up your pantry and you may be surprised to see how many munchies you own with web support. Children can check out the 'You Rule School' page for cereal kingpins General Mills, Inc. where you can play with food and view the trix rabbit, the honey bee, the leprechaun, and the cocoa pebbles creature. If that drives you coocoo you can turn to the history of Snicker's bars or Mars' conc... ...s it may seem, works. It is unlikely that the trend of releasing the virtual upon the real will end because of corporate guilt. In the meantime, enjoy the simplicity of having only a hundred channels to watch, reading electronic magazines before your web connection backs up for hours, and take a walk after work to relieve stress. If you need to find a recipe, call a friend or ask a colleague, and avoid the Ragu woman. Work on the development of a V-chip (that would be Vidiot) to block out sites of no value for your children. If you happen to run into Arnold Schwarzenegger, tell him to stick to the cinema; he loses his zest on a 13 inch monitor. References 'Web ads mark 7nd birthday with decisive issues ahead' by Debra Aho Williamson Advertising Age August 2003 'Outlook ‘04: Will Web ads go mainstream?' by Debra Aho Williamson Advertising Age October 2003