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The ‘Problem’ of Advertising

• Business pay for ads on shows
• Shows on TV ( main channels 100% supported by ads) or newspapers ( 80% supported by ads) are not the product
• The product is ad time or space sold to advertisers
• What advertisers buy is the access to audiences
• No direct price signal between consumer and editor or media
• No direct cues as to likes/dislikes or customer preference

Fleras’ Argument About Advertising being the Message

• Irony ( Fleras, p. 177): content or programming exists to deliver audiences to advertisers
• “ Ads cannot be considered interruptions when market values prevail; they are the very foundation for programming in connecting audiences with consumerism”

The Myth of Consumer Sovereignty in Ads

• No direct signal between consumers and media providers
• In fact, share of conventional TV audiences is declining but ad sales increasing
• NOT ALL CONSUMERS ARE EQUALLY VALUED: SOME ARE DISCOUNTED, AND SOME ARE PREMIUM
• Advertisers’s desire to reach the attractive youth consumer segment explains ‘Friends’, recent rise of Reality shows
• Also explains exclusion of the low spenders: blacks, hispanics or old in the US which are less attractive ad segments
• Explains exclusion of poor, old and visible minorities in most ad markets in Canada

The Myth of the Free Ad Lunch

• Costs of ads passed on to consumers: affect 10-15% of cost of goods.
• Current estimates of ads in Canada suggest ad spending of about $900 to reach each hhld: this is paid by all, even the poor, whether they want the ads or not
• Such hidden, indirect payment is not known to consumers
• Explains why they prefer ad supported, so called ‘free’ media to pay per view or other services on the Internet: they are unaware they are already ‘taxed’ by the manufacturers and distributors of consumer goods