I hate advertisements, and I fear+loathe the minds behind it.
The first insight is that advertisement is all about wish fulfillment. When they show you some skimpy babe and a boastful car, a beer can, or a bank account, in the same commercial ditty, they hope your brain learns that those things are associated.
They hope that whenever you think “ooh, I want that skimpy babe – she looks like a great backgammon partner”, you will also think “aah, I need a new chequing account – so I can pay that backgammon set with new shiny cheques”. Of course, it’s totally absurd from a logical point of view, but that doesn’t matter. They count on your receptive and partially-palliative brain drawing such conclusions when you just sit there, look at that, listen to this.
To assess to what extent your cohumans are susceptible, consider an experiment. Whenever a commercial comes on, take control of the situation and attenuate the content. Turn the volume down; drown out the happy music with laughter; stand up and get out your backgammon set. If your cohumans tolerate this, there is still hope. If on the other hand, they rant and rage that they can’t have their beloved commercials, you better watch out. You won’t want to be around when they finally discover that this flashy car doesn’t sound like a rock band, and driving one won’t automatically make every pedestrian want to make out with you, and really is just another car.
As sad it is to imagine all this, I can’t help but giggle when a particularly demeaning, intelligence- or honour-insulting advertisement comes on. But I sigh when I realize that, contrasted with the early days of television where leading characters would be of professions such as teachers, engineers, astronauts, soldiers, today the leading characters tend to be in public relations, marketing, politics, and such other evil wusses.