Am I the only one who really hates commercials?
I was at the theater watching Atomic Blonde yesterday. Great movie, but the constant barrage of commercials that you get before the movie are becoming unbearable. And it really made me realize how much I hate advertising. I can't stand any of them! Flo, the Charmin Bears, the Dr Pepper Sweet Guy, that Extra gum commercial, Geico, Target, State Farm, Farmers Insurance, O'Reilly Auto Parts, Starburst, Coca Cola, Mountain Dew. I hate taking surveys, I hate rating products, their "sales events". And why do they call them "sales events"? Do they charge tickets? There's so much of this crap - and it's all horseshit - and it all needs to go away. 
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They have a strict no advertising rule in their theaters, and they only show 3 previews per movie. It's worth the drive out to that theater. I don't mind the content before the movies, but if they start trying to ask me to get a quote on my auto insurance or sell me a new car...
My parents are Angels season ticket holders. I found an old ticket stub from 2007 when they played the Rangers. You know how much it cost to go to a game in 2007? It was $32 a ticket. This year? To see the same teams - the Angels and Rangers, is $110 a ticket! So in 10 years the ticket prices have shot up nearly 340%! It's obscene. And the team isn't nearly as good as they were 10 years ago. 
And the only thing that made him a "legitimate" owner was that he gets praise for "lowering" the price of beer sold at Angels Stadium. But we still get charged $14.00 a glass! And that's about the only thing he's done as an owner. Other than that it's been one disaster after another. 
I took my daughter to see Metallica and Volbeat a couple weeks ago - and that was about the same prices though they ranged a little from 13 to 16 depending on domestic or not. And worse, I got me a beer first then went to stand in line to get her a Volbeat shirt and finished my beer while waiting for the shirt - could have finished 2 if I had thought ahead AND wanted to pay almost 30 dollars for 2 beers lol.
On the plus side I missed nearly all of Avenged Sevenfold's set. 
The rest of their back catalog is hit or miss. But yeah I saw Portugal The Man last weekend and the beer prices were insane. The venue I was at (Hollywood Palladium) charged $9 for a 12 ounce, $11 for a 16 ounce, and $15 for a 24 ounce. At least they had some good beers on tap and we weren't subjected to drinking PBR.
I understand having to make money, but if something doesn't make money 24/7 it's not completely worthless. And not everything has to make money 24/7. I can't stand Outbrain and Taboola, or anything similar, and Ad Choices is a virus that's ruining everything it touches. I saw some douchebag a while back making the argument "If you use ad blockers you are taking food out of the mouths of children!!!". Uh, no you aren't.
You can get the Fire HD tablet for $59 or $99. The difference? The $59 version comes with "premium sponsored content". No thanks!
I don't watch live TV anymore-- can't stand the ads. I'll record it and watch it later, skipping over all ads. 
And radio!! There are ads every couple of minutes. Won't listen-- it drives me crazy! 
That's one reason I like PBS so much: quality programs, NO ads 
Whether it's dealers with their obnoxious sales events (don't get me started on how much I hate the Christmas ones), Oreilly Auto Parts with their horrible jingle, insurance companies, and so on. It's horrible.
And the most obnoxious one right now is for this company here called Jewelers Touch. The ad starts off "When we created Jewelers Touch, it wasn't going to be this hoity toity snobby place...". The fact that you have to call it out already makes it sound like it is. And it ends with "whether you're spending $100 or $10,000." Whaaaaaaat? 
and sometimes I am still there before the stupid trailers have ended. Some people like them though, so we may arrive "on time". They will go in and get seated while I go get popcorn. 
Reserved seating has made going to the movie so much better for me.
He'd be watching and commenting on the commercials, and when they ended, he'd whine "Oh, why are these great commercials interrupted by these dumb shows"? 
1. New car - one you can't afford, ever (BMW, Audi, etc).
2. New car - one you might possibly afford - after going to the dealer's ridiculous sales event (Toyota, Volkswagen).
3. New car - this one sells more than the other guys and you need this (Nissan, Ford, Mazda).
4. New car - clearance event because the dealers need to move out the old inventory to make room for new cars (Kia, Hyundai, Honda).
5. New car - one you might possibly afford (Honda, Mazda).
6. New truck - in case you don't want a new car (Chevrolet).
7. Used car - in case you can't afford a new car (Toyota).
8. Car insurance - because you need this (Farmers, State Farm, etc).
9. Car insurance - because our insurance is more affordable than the other guys' (Geico).
10. Car parts - because your new car is turning into a used car (O'Reilly Auto Parts).
11. DUI attorneys - because you drank too much at your friends' party and needed to make a beer run in your new car.
12. Pay day loan vendors - you're broke after 1 - 11 (Dollar Loan Center, Loan Mart, Cash Call, etc).
13. New car - because you wrecked your car and need a new one and this is one you can't afford (Mercedes).
Repeat cycle.
Person 1: "Hi, I'm here to tell you that Company X is better than Company Y because statistics have shown Company X to be within a +-1% difference in reliability over Company Y. Those numbers are something you can really trust. Take a closer look at Company X!"
Person 2: "Hmmm... I think I will take a closer look at Company X."
And I've noticed the commercials on the Game Show Network - nearly every single one of them is for a pharmaceutical product. And all the ads literally run the same after a while. And they're getting very oddly specific with the diseases they're supposedly treating.
... commercials people posted because they are funny or thoughtful, etc.
And even then I can choose to watch them or not.
My wife and I abandoned cable-satellite-broadcast television years ago. Our TV plays movies, commercial free, that's all it does.
Our kid got us Netflix which we continue to subscribe to. The day I see a commercial there will be the day I quit.
So far our local theaters haven't been too horrible. The ads for television shows are usually over by the time we get there.
Coming new this fall! Undeservedly Affluent Young People Behaving Badly!
The first time I saw that I was like 
I blame the transition from film to digital projection for that.
Before digital, the only ads our theater showed was slides from local businesses and charities.
So I can sit through a few commercials for that. I don't mind the shit they play before a show, but I really hate when they say things like "We have exclusive content from Chipotle and Dennys!!!". I wouldn't watch that shit if you paid me, and since when are Chipotle and Dennys content providers?
and I watch a lot of tv. Most of the time, though, it's Netflix or Amazon. No advertising, yay.
Initech, how about this book, which is about the death of advertising, due to technology.
I read half of it; still have to finish it. I'm a former advertising director, as is this writer.
Cher
I watch just about everything on streaming, but for things you can't stream there's times when you have to endure ads. I do love Netflix and Hulu, and HBO Go.
I saw Spiderman Homecoming, twice, and not once during the movie did I give a shit about what laptop they were using! 
