The Domination of Advertising in Society

Have you noticed how American society has become increasingly filled with advertisements? It especially heinous in the sports world where everything has to do with advertisements. Baseball teams smartly generate tons of revenue from advertisements but the advertisements have become so engrained into the game that is diminishes the final product. For example, the scoreboard is filled with advertisements and even announcers get paid to do advertisements while they are on the air.

For example, while I watched a New Jersey Cardinals minor league game, the announcer said that the strikeout was brought to you by Pest Control. Huh? More advertising at work. Also, did you know that this fifteenth out could save you money by Geico for a fifteen minute phone call? I didn't either.

Gatorade cups are scattered everywhere in the dugout and in NASCAR all of the racers have their so called uniforms decorated in advertisements as well the car that they drive.

Whenever a coach or player has a press conference or interview in front of a large group of reporters and is standing in front of a microphone, the background has an advertisement in it. Likewise, the background and backstop behind the catcher in a baseball game has advertisements so that you constantly are reminded to eat at Subway restaurant when every pitch is thrown.

Advertising has gotten so ridiculous that people are now auctioning off ad space on their foreheads and chest for advertising as a way of making money.

Now its one thing to see advertisements all over the web because it is a page that you are reading, just like a magazine or newspaper. However, it is entirely another issue when it comes to shoving advertisements down the consumer throat in society. Pretty soon there will be television shows just having commercials and advertisements.

Still, if you look at advertisements in another fashion, anything and everything can be considered an advertisement. The sports and players you see on television and selling a product for you to watch and go to see the games. One might construe that as an advertisement. Even when sports players wear the new shoes that they just signed with Nike or Addidas, they are promoting the products that they receive money for that goes right into their pockets. Heck, even the air time for the White Sox games this upcoming season has been sold to the store 7-11. All Chicago White Sox games will now air at 7:11 pm. Sometimes I even marvel in awe at the front office executives and their brilliance as they continue to come up with new and dumber ways to make money from advertising.

In minor league games the outfield walls are covered from the bottom to top in advertisements and I predict that baseball's next move will be to put advertisements on the outfield walls.