Intrusive Advertising

Obviously we have been seeing all sorts of advertisement in the last decade, from the evolvement of the television to the radio advertisement and also now to the internet medium.

Advertising has served its purpose of providing information to the consumers and creating awareness, and at times providing a community service to the public. For example I really appreciate the advertising companies in my country, Malaysia which beautified the a whole train station and a bridge which was made out of ugly concrete, transforming it to the whole theme for a telecommunications comapany.

But isn't it too much of 'intrusive' advertising lately? I mean having them on tables and public transports are all fine, they do subsidise some of our expenses and occasionally we do get worthy freebies from the advertising.

Recently, it is more of a invasion of priacy in evry turn of the corner. You can see them in handle bars on the commuters, milk cartons, restaurant napkins, public mirrors and worst of all, in lavatories !!! Wake up advertisers, you get the consumer's attention but you annoy them as well and to the companies who approve as such advertising, have some sense !!! Do you want your brand names to be tarnished?

Case in point, i recently was in the lavatory of my college and while i was taking a leak and staring at the wall; WOW!!! An ad for a book which says Dare To Fail :), later as I washed my hands and looked up to the mirror, to my dismay and shock i am suddenly wearing glasses and have grown a moustache with flies hovering around my hair. No that was not me! It was some stupid graphic pasted on the mirror which advertised the Clorects fresh mints saying your breath matters first before your looks!!!

What I am trying to say here to the advertisers is "DON'T GO OVERBROAD!". Give the consumers some space, advertise in a savvy way, one which the consumers appreciate. A very good example would be the ads which advises cinema-goers to switch off their cell-phones, and they know it's from Nokia. Yeah, you may get our attention but if it backfires by annoying us, the brand name you are advertising for gets tarnished!!! So brand name companies, look out because it's your brand which gets shown not the advertising agency's.