Crap. Why is it I always find the posts I really want to wax upon with eloquence when it's late, and I'm bone tired? Lindsay is such a bright and attractive woman. And she gets why this is so important. I like to think I do too.

Bottom line: total, complete bullshit drives much advertising in this country. Based on metrics and numbers from decades ago and cultures dead, ads are bought by companies who believe in well, a lot of crap, and who don't understand what their ad dollar does and doesn't buy them. Advertising entities aren't stupid; it's not like they're going to tell GM that their return on their billions is in fact much less than traditional MBA think suggests. Greatly like the political consulting class, advertisers have created an environment in which people continue to pay them despite the lack of profitable results.

Hm. Shocking. I'm so sorry I never got an MBA.

Snark aside, the reason this is important to me is because it allows me to bask in the self indulgence of feeling like an "outlier." Really, I don't think it's such a hard reality to understand. I'm busy, I don't have a lot of money, and I like consuming culture. So do a lot of (young) people. So what makes more sense? Reading dead tree publications, paying $17.99 per CD, using a landline and a must-be-there messaging device, while typing on a Selectric? Um, not really. Similarly: if you know about DVR technology, you use it. Like, Duh. Comparitively, I'm a sucka, I don't even rank in the top thirty percent when it comes to knowing all the ways I can tailor information to meet my needs and interests. Yes, I know "how 90s" this all sounds, but people: it's happening before our eyes. I'm only sorry the money people weren't patient enough to realize their investments.

I suspect the internal data is much, much more depressing than even this blerb suggests. Think of your own habits. When do you watch an ad, and why? For how long? Does it motivate your purchasing? Perhaps I'm giving the consumer too much credit, perhaps not enough. Ad people seem to me to be too confident in a model that has ceased to be relelvant (to me) for a long time. The question isn't about if I'm different or special in this way, but rather how long it will take for the "average" consumer to develop similar habits. Given the ease with which I took them on, I suspect a Revolution on Madison Ave any day now.

Remember, kids live and breath "MySpace" in the same way their folks have to hear of it for the first time on a "Law and Order" episode. Think of all the ways in which such a juxtaposition is interesting.