Research has found that the average person seer almost 3,000 ads every day. That sounds impossible. When we think about advertising, we usually think of TV and radio commercials, and ads in newspapers and magazines. But that's only the beginning.
Your clothes probably have a brand name on them-a very common form of advertising. Many T-shirts and caps carry advertising for different products. If you like to wear sports clothes, they probably carry the logo of a big international company or a professional sports team.
Your favorite forms of entertainment are also filled with ads. If you go to a soccer game, the stadium has huge advertisements for all kind of products. Many soft drink companies put on concerts and other events. In movies, you'll see characters driving a particular brand of car, or eating a popular snack food, because the manufacturers of the products paid to be in the film.
The problem with all these kinds of advertising is that after some time, consumers don't notice them. After we have seen ads on the train or in the bus many times, we don't even read them. So advertisers have to find unusual places for ads, to surprise us and make us pay attention to them. These days, you can find advertising in restaurant bathrooms, on ATM machines, and on the back of airplane seats. On the Internet, one web page might have a dozen ads, and you also find lots of ads in your e-mail. Cars, taxis, and other vehicles have become moving commercials. You see ads on public telephones, and in elevators. There are even tiny ads on the apples in the supermarket. Soon, you'll see ads pressed into the sand on beaches!
Advertisers are now devising ways to reach a truly global audience. Several years ago, the Russian government sent up a rocket with a 10-meter-high ad for a pizza restaurant on its side. Some companies are trying to develop signs in space that everyone on earth can see.
With all of these ads that we see, we need to be aware of the messages they give us. Advertising can have a strong impact on our thinking, even when we don't realize it. This is especially true for children, because they believe that everything they see is true. People of all ages need to think critically about the ideas that we get from advertising, and how they affect our behavior.