I’ve only recently found Twitter (@mark2100) - now obviously I’m not that early an adopter but I’m late enough that it’s about to become the cesspool of mindless advertising that is so familiar from email, the web, IM, newsgroups and even video games.

Do advertisers really think that force feeding bite size product plugs at every single opportunity still works? Anyone who’s been online more than 4 or 5 years has long since filtered out web advertising.

And many (myself included) change email address every 6 months to stay ahead of the spam. So if I’m not paying attention, it’s safe to assume other techies aren’t. And if they aren’t paying attention, then how long until the Joe-Six-Packs and Hockey-Moms of the world are also?

When the “norms” do start to ignore online advertising, will advertising simply vanish with the puff of sulfurous fire that it deserves(I have my marshmallows ready).

MySpace recently launched an advertising platform and it looks like Facebook will have no choice but to do something similar also. Maybe not for awhile, but it has no monetization options open to it except advertising. But then, they have nobody to blame but themselves. Build it and they will come is an old saying. Build it and they will come so we can advertise to them, now that’s a new one!

Advertising is one of the vilest human creations ever, yet we rarely seem to recognize it as such. It brainwashes us slowly, gently and so suitably we barely notice it. Like religious mantras, advertising messages only have to repeated so many times before they become part of the psyche.

We all know the sad truth behind advertising. It’s not till we get home, open our next generation iPod till we realize it’s the same damned brick as the last one. And the penny drops that maybe there was nothing wrong with your old Zen after all!

For about six months now, I’ve only been watching DVD box sets. I loathe advertising so much, I am willing to spend €20-40 per week (!) on TV shows burnt to DVD so I can avoid the regular product-injections. Of course, you don’t have to look far in US television series to start spotting the product placement. Is there no end to this madness?

Eventually advertisers will just pay us to sit quietly, without fidgeting, for hours on end watching looped marketing messages. I for one welcome our new Nike-Powered, Redbull-Energized, iPod-Dazzling, Nestle-tasting, Nokia-speaking overlords.

(Ps. I know I use that “i welcome our new overlords” line a lot. I like it.)

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