You are of course free to tell me “no one asked, shithead”, but here goes: the token *‘til* is malformed. The apostrophe is backwards, and it mistakenly treats the worthy parent *till* as if it were a mere contraction of its descendant *until*.
I too grew up during the 1970s and was exposed* to a vast number of TV ads. The overall effect was that I developed a visceral loathing of advertising. It wasn't just that they were continually interrupting whatever I was trying to watch but that so many of them were so incredibly, unfathomably stupid, which really means they assumed their viewers, including me, were incredibly, unfathomably stupid. Loud, aggressive, and insulting my intelligence: not a winning combination! I was raised by reactionaries, not at all "indoctrinated by leftist ideology to despise advertising", but it wasn't necessary. By the time I went to college, long before I recognized "the slaughterhouse of capitalism", I *hated* commercials. To this day, I refuse to watch or listen to them. If I can't skip them, I close my eyes and plug my ears. Once in a while, I even sing "La la la, I can't hear you!" to drown them out.
"your brand goes on my Enemies List and I make a mental note to boycott it 'til I die.": That's why I'll never buy a Nissan. As a child in Los Angeles, I listened to Dodgers games on the radio, and the ads for Datsun, as they called themselves back then, were so frequent and obnoxious that I vowed never to buy one of their cars. Some people probably would say my reaction is overwrought, but for me, those hyperbolic ads pretty much defined the word "overwrought".
This and much else I read sounds so horrid, as I now seem to lead an add-free life? I don’t even know how, like yeah I work from home, I don’t live in the states (oh that job in a building whose elevator ran Fox News all day! Fox News lovers themselves don’t need that shit at 8am), I hardly watch video and just read the internet, my streaming is ad-free… but still, am I just ungodly level lucky?
I did randomly start humming the doublemint doublemint gum ad the other day though, and I’ve never even chewed gum, so I guess I share your subconscious trauma 🤮
I can't tell you how many forests have been destroyed by the flyers landing in my mailbox for the current congressional primary. I'll have "none of the above".
Agreed. Enshittification is a scourge. If you want to ditch Substack b/c of their Nazi problem, Buttondown works wonderfully, they will even import all your Substack work with a few clicks.
Hear, hear. Thank you for writing what I feel about the perpetual encroachment of advertising into every visual nook and temporal cranny the fuckers can find. And thank you for not permitting that in your garden.
I checked in with Mark Crispin Miller on Substack not long ago, and wound up wishing I hadn't. Sometimes, a well-founded paranoia of the Powers That Be becomes severely contorted with age.
As for the 7-11 cups, I got multiple Perry Whites. No Green Lantern, no Captain Marvel, not even a Lightning Lad. Just one Perry White after another. It taught a lot about life. Particularly, the promises of advertising.
Just as many people choose to acknowledge two and only two "Godfather" films, so I continue to appreciate, cite, and highly esteem Dr. Miller's contributions to film and TV criticism.
Wow! I don't think I have ever commented on a post in my life, I just read and enjoy (or not) and go on with my day. But man! This message was fantastic and true! Ads suck! (In addition to the many places they are showing up that you mentioned, also soon or already on refrigerators!? And why aren't stadiums named after the city or the team? Corporate look-at-us-we're-so-generous-horn tooting. Ugh.)
The most insidious, evil kind of advertising is the kind of “sponsored” post that’s been popping up at the top of my feed whenever I’m compelled to respond to one of my extended family members on Facebook. The first one fooled me: an ad for mushroom supplements to address brain fog that was woven into the end of a woman’s elaborate story about going to a retreat in Japan. That happened about a month ago. Since then, I’ve stumbled on these snake doctor “stories” whenever I make the mistake of logging in. And on Instagram, the only social media platform I use regularly, they’ve solicited me to start advertising (no, never). Every fresh hell is brought to us courtesy of late-stage capitalism.
I don't know if "betrayed" is exactly the right word, since it's not as if we ever believed that they would do anything other than fuck us over, but they did indeed fuck us over.
I was pretty early in the internet and I guess I thought at the time it really would do no evil. Silly me. Giant corporations gonna act like giant corporations, here before
I thought the same! Those early days of the internet, getting lost and learning-actually learning things, interesting things, true things. It didn’t feel like wasted time either.
I remember the old internet as fun, too—I took part in it, with thepaincomics.com. I'm sure there were idealists among its inventors as well as mercenaries. Reminds me of the recollections of the people who worked at Alamogordo or Oak Ridge—it was fun, they were inventing something new and revolutionary, they were gonna win the war! And as soon as it was ready the government was like, "Yeah duh, the whole plan was always to cremate thousands of people alive."
You are of course free to tell me “no one asked, shithead”, but here goes: the token *‘til* is malformed. The apostrophe is backwards, and it mistakenly treats the worthy parent *till* as if it were a mere contraction of its descendant *until*.
I too grew up during the 1970s and was exposed* to a vast number of TV ads. The overall effect was that I developed a visceral loathing of advertising. It wasn't just that they were continually interrupting whatever I was trying to watch but that so many of them were so incredibly, unfathomably stupid, which really means they assumed their viewers, including me, were incredibly, unfathomably stupid. Loud, aggressive, and insulting my intelligence: not a winning combination! I was raised by reactionaries, not at all "indoctrinated by leftist ideology to despise advertising", but it wasn't necessary. By the time I went to college, long before I recognized "the slaughterhouse of capitalism", I *hated* commercials. To this day, I refuse to watch or listen to them. If I can't skip them, I close my eyes and plug my ears. Once in a while, I even sing "La la la, I can't hear you!" to drown them out.
"your brand goes on my Enemies List and I make a mental note to boycott it 'til I die.": That's why I'll never buy a Nissan. As a child in Los Angeles, I listened to Dodgers games on the radio, and the ads for Datsun, as they called themselves back then, were so frequent and obnoxious that I vowed never to buy one of their cars. Some people probably would say my reaction is overwrought, but for me, those hyperbolic ads pretty much defined the word "overwrought".
*"Exposed", as to pathogens, radiation, etc.
This and much else I read sounds so horrid, as I now seem to lead an add-free life? I don’t even know how, like yeah I work from home, I don’t live in the states (oh that job in a building whose elevator ran Fox News all day! Fox News lovers themselves don’t need that shit at 8am), I hardly watch video and just read the internet, my streaming is ad-free… but still, am I just ungodly level lucky?
I did randomly start humming the doublemint doublemint gum ad the other day though, and I’ve never even chewed gum, so I guess I share your subconscious trauma 🤮
I can't tell you how many forests have been destroyed by the flyers landing in my mailbox for the current congressional primary. I'll have "none of the above".
Thanks for bringing a smile to my face with "enshitification."
I wish I could claim credit but it's not my coinage--it's a widely enough recognized problem that there's a word for it now.
Agreed. Enshittification is a scourge. If you want to ditch Substack b/c of their Nazi problem, Buttondown works wonderfully, they will even import all your Substack work with a few clicks.
The joy of not being sold anything.
It reminds me of a “Black Mirror” episode called “Common People” (S7:E1).
Hear, hear. Thank you for writing what I feel about the perpetual encroachment of advertising into every visual nook and temporal cranny the fuckers can find. And thank you for not permitting that in your garden.
❤️
You are the canary in the Substack Coal Mine. If you disappear, I will know all is lost.
I checked in with Mark Crispin Miller on Substack not long ago, and wound up wishing I hadn't. Sometimes, a well-founded paranoia of the Powers That Be becomes severely contorted with age.
As for the 7-11 cups, I got multiple Perry Whites. No Green Lantern, no Captain Marvel, not even a Lightning Lad. Just one Perry White after another. It taught a lot about life. Particularly, the promises of advertising.
Just as many people choose to acknowledge two and only two "Godfather" films, so I continue to appreciate, cite, and highly esteem Dr. Miller's contributions to film and TV criticism.
Wow! I don't think I have ever commented on a post in my life, I just read and enjoy (or not) and go on with my day. But man! This message was fantastic and true! Ads suck! (In addition to the many places they are showing up that you mentioned, also soon or already on refrigerators!? And why aren't stadiums named after the city or the team? Corporate look-at-us-we're-so-generous-horn tooting. Ugh.)
Huge agreement. Thank you, Tim!
The most insidious, evil kind of advertising is the kind of “sponsored” post that’s been popping up at the top of my feed whenever I’m compelled to respond to one of my extended family members on Facebook. The first one fooled me: an ad for mushroom supplements to address brain fog that was woven into the end of a woman’s elaborate story about going to a retreat in Japan. That happened about a month ago. Since then, I’ve stumbled on these snake doctor “stories” whenever I make the mistake of logging in. And on Instagram, the only social media platform I use regularly, they’ve solicited me to start advertising (no, never). Every fresh hell is brought to us courtesy of late-stage capitalism.
As if Substack wasn’t always a for-profit venture. Silicon Valley once again betrays us.
I don't know if "betrayed" is exactly the right word, since it's not as if we ever believed that they would do anything other than fuck us over, but they did indeed fuck us over.
I was pretty early in the internet and I guess I thought at the time it really would do no evil. Silly me. Giant corporations gonna act like giant corporations, here before
Trump and here long after.
I thought the same! Those early days of the internet, getting lost and learning-actually learning things, interesting things, true things. It didn’t feel like wasted time either.
I remember the old internet as fun, too—I took part in it, with thepaincomics.com. I'm sure there were idealists among its inventors as well as mercenaries. Reminds me of the recollections of the people who worked at Alamogordo or Oak Ridge—it was fun, they were inventing something new and revolutionary, they were gonna win the war! And as soon as it was ready the government was like, "Yeah duh, the whole plan was always to cremate thousands of people alive."
best. mass. email in my inbox. EVER. 💜💜💜💜💜
Seriously. When I see The Loaf in my inbox I can feel my shoulders un-hunch.
That's one of the very nicest comments I've ever gotten. I am glad to provide this service.