Messages on Hold.

I catch the Manly ferry to and from work and the trip is a wonder on one of the most beautiful harbours in the world. Recently the Sydney Ferries authority decided to put in large screen TVs to entertain the travellers. I'm a TV watcher from my early days but I have come to appreciate the times away from the box and the commercial advertising that runs rampant throughout the programming. So I'm not sure I really need to watch one more commercial while the harboor vista goes unnoticed.

Advertisers will tell you they have only the best interests of the public in mind and that they have relevant products to sell. The problem is, they believe this and thus continue to affront the public and add to the mountain of messages that overwhelm the senses. It is rare to stand out in this barrage of noise and no matter how loud they shout the analogy of the marketing people in a stadium of 100,000 people all screaming for their football team makes sure no one hears anything.

Research shows that the average person encounters about 1,000,000+ marketing messages per year, with some claiming even higher figures of up to 5,000 per day, making it 1,800,000 messages assaulting our senses. Thirty years ago Yankelovich, the company credited with coining the phrase "baby boomers", estimated that figure was below 2,000 a day, so we are probably getting the extra 3,000 before we get to work.

For people in large metropolis', according to Neilsen, this can equate to 6 hours of media attention daily and then the question is asked, how do we have time to do any work?

My golf game is not noteworthy and the enjoyment of taking the ball out of the hole should not be clouded by reading a marketing message in the cup. Nor should I be sold a product while at a bathroom stall. No one wants to annoy the customer, so it's a fine line between engagement and stalking.

So where do we draw the line? I don't think we have any idea as the channels for marketing and distribution increase daily, along with the technology to sell products to every niche market, no matter how small. The future will see interactive marketing where you will only need to touch the TV or an ad of sorts if you like the product and it will be sent to you, so I guess the ferry TV is the least of my worries. There is no marketing arena out of the question as the Pizza Hut logo attached to the Russian space craft attests.

So as I gaze out of the ferry window I'm hoping I don't see an ad sailing by because I'm full now and I have another 1000 to digest before I get to the office!