Full Size | iPod | Flash 8 Advertisements suck. Sure there are exceptions but for the most part, they suck. One of the things I’m enjoying about San Francisco is the relative lack of billboards and fast food signs along the road. In San Antonio there are places on the highway where all you can see is cars and signs. Here they actually have trees and hills to look at sometimes. But I don’t have to tell you how crazy advertising is - you see it, hear it and trip over it all day every day like everyone else. Advertisements are beginning to get all over videoblogs too. I guess I don’t really mind so much when the video is fictional or informational and the ad is super short - like a flash at the end. That’s easy to ignore - Ze Frank is always selling something at the end but I can’t tell you what. But when ads show up on a someone’s personal videoblog it’s just weird and I swear to god the thing that we talked about happening around this just did. Yesterday I watched a beautiful, emotional, personal video. But at some point my eye wandered for just a second and I saw a little ad in the sidebar for a site where you could download smilies - hmmm. Then I looked up and saw that the video was ending but the playhead wasn’t at the end of the video. And sure enough AN AD FOR A FUCKING VIDEO CAR CHASE GAME CAME ON. This person had just poured their soul out relating a very serious thing that they’d experienced - and made beautiful video out of it - and then an obnoxious ad took a big giant shit all over it. So now that I’ve painted myself into a corner I thought I’d make an advertisement (I’m all about the irony) for some videoblogs which are trying sponsorships - like NPR or PBS - instead of going crazy with ads all over the place. I think it’s kind of cool that the people who watch and care about these projects can contribute a little to help make them happen. To me it’s more like buying a book or seeing a concert. So check these guys out, subscribe to them and send them a few bucks. Wreck Salvage Wreck Salvage Ebay Auction Lives in Focus Donate to Lives in Focus at Have Money Will Vlog Galacticast Galacticast Sponsorships
