Hypercommercialism, The Media and Oligopolistic Markets

The Progression and Annoyance of Advertising... What’s not new Advertising has spilled into our television programs with 30 and 15 second spots, in total taking 14 to 17 minutes per h

“Consumers are like roaches You spray

them and spray them and they become

immune after a while The only answer is to spray them some more.”

-David Lubars, Senior Ad Executive, Omnicom Group

GUESS WHAT???

The Burning Question

How many different

cans of Raid do

advertisers have?

The Progression (and Annoyance) of

Advertising

What’s not new

 Advertising has spilled into our television

programs with 30 and 15 second spots, in total taking 14 to 17 minutes per hour of programming

 Ads also appear in our newspapers, magazines,

on our radio stations and in other forms of media

 Advertising in stadiums and other public venues

We have become immune to this.

What IS new

 Advertising during TV programs, digitally imprinted such that only the home viewer can see it

 Internet pop-up ads, including those that now avoid pop-up blockers

 Commercialized companies, making deals with advertisers which benefit both the

company and advertiser

What IS new

 Products written into programming

 Product sponsored events, books, etc

• The Nokia Sugar Bowl

• The Oreo Cookie Counting Book

An alarming example to me: NASCAR

• The good ol’ boy network has fallen!

A closer look at NASCAR

 Founded in 1948 by Bill France, Sr., its

primary series, the “Strictly Stock Division” began on the dirt tracks in Charlotte, NC in

1949 The famed Daytona International

Speedway opened in 1959

 R.J Reynolds Tobacco and France struck

a deal that created NASCAR’s Winston

Cup Series in 1971

That was then… this is NOW!

 NASCAR is a commercialized machine,

from the cars, to the drivers, to the

broadcasts to the Internet All interactive rights are now owned by Time Warner

 The broadcast networks now televise

NASCAR, and since that’s the case…

 Winston is GONE as the primary

sponsor… it is now the Nextel Cup Series

as of this year

The Web Site

This Is Our Future

We cannot escape advertisers

Businesses are joining with them for more profit They’re in our books, our stadiums, on our buses,

in public bathroom stalls, hospital rooms… we are trapped, there is no way out…

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!

And If That Wasn’t Bad Enough…

MEDIA HEGEMONY AND OLIGOPOLISTIC MARKETS

So Few Own So Much

 n: The interaction of two or more agents or

forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects

 Cooperative interaction among groups,

especially among the acquired subsidiaries or merged parts of a corporation, that creates an enhanced combined effect

THE BIG SEVEN

These are the first tier firms:

Cox Enterprises

 Cox is considered a second-tier media firm

 Profits range from $3-$10 billion annuallyThey own

 Newspapers

 TV Stations and Channels (Partially)

 Other (AutoTrader.com)

 www.coxenterprises.com

What these conglomerates do

 Acquire any and every thing that furthers their efforts to control media outlets

 Work with each other to keep third-tier and independent firms out UNLESS they can get a slice of the pie (they are the

gatekeepers)

 Keep ideas stale; remain non-progressive (they give the people what they want, but then give too much of it)

Why is this happening???

Why is this happening???

What can be done?

SITE TO REMEMBER!

Columbia Journalism Review

 www.cjr.org

THE END