Advertising has slowly and steadily increased prominence in our daily lives. With each passing year there is more exposure to advertising from the regular sources such as TV, newspapers, web spam, junk mail etc. Much of this we can choose to turn off or discard.But it continually worsens as the armies of marketing find new ways to get into every corner of our lives, to capture more space in our minds. This is an invasion that steers society in the wrong direction.
Advertising is increasingly showing up in public spaces that were once free of paid propaganda. Governments at various levels are selling our precious space for revenue, often destroying the natural view. It's appearing boldly in areas such parks, public entertainment centers, transit and so on, carrying commercial messages and corporate logos.
This public space belongs to the public. If we are being cheaply sold out to business by our politicians and other public figures we need to speak out.
The Media Awareness Network is home to one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of media education and internet literacy resources. They express deep concerns of the widespread expansion of advertising that is surrounding us.
No, it's not your imagination. The amount of advertising and marketing North Americans are exposed to daily has exploded over the past decade; studies show, that on average we see 3,000 ads per day. At the gas pumps, in the movie theater, in a washroom stall, during sporting events—advertising is impossible to avoid. Read more - Advertising: It's Everywhere.
The Anti-Advertising Agency website is also dedicated to raising awareness in advertising's invasion of our public space:
Through long-term commercial saturation, it has become implicitly understood by the public that advertising has the right to own, occupy and control every inch of available space. The steady normalization of invasive advertising dulls the public’s perception of their surroundings, re-enforcing a general attitude of powerlessness toward creativity and change, thus a cycle develops enabling advertisers to slowly and consistently increase the saturation of advertising with little or no public outcry."
