Society is going downhill, don't you agree?

There are many things I do not understand. The older I get (and I do hope to get even older), the more things I do not understand. But I do understand advertising. After all, I am of the first TV generation. We got our first TV when I was 5 or 6. And, of course, I became the dark silhouette in the middle of the rather small screen. The one my father complained about... often.

I observed over the years the growth in number and subtlety of TV advertising. At one time, only 8 minutes of an hour show was commercials. Today? 18 minutes. That's the official commercials. They've also embedded commercials within the show itself.

Last night, for example, I was watching "White Collar" and one of the characters showed off a feature (an option, to be sure, and one you will pay heavily for as part of a "package") of a car (I will not mention the maker or the model). This is not the first time, it is happening more and more. I suppose that is to be expected. After all, in this age of DVR, people are finding ways to avoid commercials as never before.

Faye and I almost never watch a show in "real time" anymore. We record all our favorite shows and start them 18 to 20 minutes after they begin. That way, we can fast forward through the commercials. The advertisers know this and probably do it themselves. So now they stick the ads into the show itself.

I noticed back in the 50's that there were only Fords in TV shows that had Ford as an advertiser. It was easy to notice. A street full of Fords? Parked along the street and going up and down? As an aside, have you ever noticed that no car seemed to have a rear view mirror? You always had a clear view of the people in the front seat... and the two people sat much closer than they did in actual cars of the time. Cars are much narrower now so it is not as obvious.

I see no way around this... or the advertisements we are forced to sit through when we go to a movie theater now.

This is not progress.