You all know the situation: You've settled down in front of the television to see one of your favourite movies. Just as the story starts to get exiting you are interrupted. Not by the phone or the doorbell, but by the television itself! By the commercial break! For five minutes you have to struggle to keep in the right mood, so that the plot of the movie is not destroyed by the interruption. This happened to me a few weeks ago. I was watching one of my childhood favourites - "The Never-ending Story" - on a German channel. As always when we're talking German channels, all characters proved to be excellent at German and even at speaking with other voices than their usual English ones, but even though most might not believe this, a movie can still be great (as long as you understand German of course). Just at the most touching moment at the end of the movie, the commercial break attacked. The Childlike Empress looked directly at the camera with tears in her eyes. She opened her mouth and was tenths of a second from saying "Bastian... say my name, Bastian!", as a sign saying "Werbung" (Commercials) pushed her away from the screen. The movie was ruined.

This is not only happening on television. Everywhere you look, advertising is creeping up on you. All kinds of magazines (even comic books) are filled with page after page of advertisements, the radio stations interrupt music and other programs to send "an important message" (or more likely: Twenty equally important messages). You just have to take a look at the internet to see how far advertising has got. Search engines such as Yahoo! remember your keyword searches, and present you with advertising optimised to fit your interests... and you'll never even notice this yourself. I'm not against advertising. I'm against advertising destroying the media it uses. I'm against lying commercials. I'm against fake doctors wanting me to buy a toothbrush or use a washing detergent. And I'm sick and tired of people wanting me to buy sanitary towels and shaving foam all the time. Lets make a deal: No more sanitary towel commercials for the girls, and no more shaving commercials for the boys, okay?

The companies responsible for all these lies, that they just pour over our heads like accepted spam, want us to believe that we get cool by drinking their kind of lemonade, that we will be more popular if we drive their car, or that we can get the girl or boy of our dreams by chewing their gum. Oh yeah, we're chewing their gum, all right! They're playing us for suckers and we're not saying no. Try counting how many minutes a day you spend watching or reading commercials and advertisements, and find out how many years of your life you waste filling your head with lies.

But the worst thing: The advertising companies want us to believe that they're actually doing us a favour. 'If we didn't have advertising, all products would be packed in white boxes, and you wouldn't know which product was good or bad'. Wrong! The "wrapping" has little to do with advertising and a lot to do with design. We don't need commercials to tell us that a product is good... I've never seen a commercial encouraging us NOT to buy the product. We need user surveys and controlled tests to find the best product. 'If we didn't have advertising, a lot of products would be more expensive'. What?! If the companies didn't spend billions trying to get us to buy their breakfast cereal, maybe the product itself could be sold at a lower price than today. Why do you think, all the products you've never heard of are cheaper than the famous brands? Because they're of a lower quality? Think again... 'If we didn't have advertising, many of the services you today get for free would cost you money' This is true. You could end up paying to use Yahoo! Is this a price you're willing to pay? As for me... all I have to do is take a single look at the Childlike Empress getting shut up by a guy who want me to buy his dog food (completely ignoring the fact that I've never owned a dog), to know where I stand.

Advertising? - don't do it!