Question 2:
Advertisement has increased so much the last few decades, that now we barely even notice it. You will never see a plain space in any public place anymore. Although I am sure that the advertisements companies have done their research on the revenues generated by advertisements, personally, I do not feel as if their are as effective anymore. When ever I go to the mall, or even a place such as Time Square in New York City, I do not even notice the advertisements anymore. The colors and the glitter have become part of the view, so I don't see individual ad's, but instead one big wall of colors and pictures. They do not stand out from the rest. This point was brought up in the documentary, but the advertisements companies solution was to simply add more ads. Instead, they should focus more on coming up with a more original and innovative way make the products be noticed. The fact that advertisements have increased so much in the last few decades, just enforces my point, that advertisements are not very effective today. If a show that I am watching goes to commercials, then I will just change the channel. Companies need to steer away from the conventional advertisement, and come up with a more unique way to get their products recognized to the consumers.
Question 4:
I am not surprised, so much as I am a little scared about how much information companies have about me. This is not surprising because I know, and probably most of us, know how they get their information. Every time the cashier asks for a ZIP code when you check out, that is your information they are getting. In turn they sell that information for a large sum of money. Just last week I received two text messages that were trying to scam me. They pretended to be a financial institutions, and asked for personal informations. I knew they were false so I did not respond, but I was just curious as to how they got my phone number in the first place. Since apparently retail companies can legally sell my information, the least they can do is be careful who they give it to.
Certain information I am fine to give out if it means that I get something in return. For example, I do not mind giving information such as address and name, since that is public information anyway. All they have to do is look me up in a phone book or google. Also, info such as musical and food preference i fine with, since most people post these bits of information on social networks such as Facebook or MySpace. Information I am not OK with are cell phone numbers and highly personal information such as medication. These private information for a reason. Especially with medication; people can be very sensitive with medicine. If that kind of information were to get out, it could ruin their personal lives, as well as their professional lives at work.
