In my case, I think the most creative ads are those made for light beers. Budweiser has a long tradition of funny, original and clever advertisements.

That being said, I don't think many ads have an effect on the purchases I make. I usually am not one to purchase brand name products. When you make a teacher's pay and have a wife and four kids, you look at price more than the name on the package. If the generic brand is of nearly the same quality, we go with it over the name brand every time.

The advertising slideshow I presented in class has some good ads in it, but this is another of my favorites:

Books, who needs them? According to surveys,
most young people today do not read. Discuss your
reading habits and explain why you think they are what
they are. What impact do you think the decline in literary
consumption will have on mass media consumers?

I love to read books and do so as much as possible. This usually consists of reading for 30 to 45 minutes before bed as a way to relax. I would read significantly more, but the rigors of life as a teacher, grad student, parent, etc. consume too much of my time.

I am currently reading Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kessey, which I would recommend as an excellent example of character development and non-linear storytelling. Over the Christmas holiday I saturated myself in science fiction by Robert Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. Both were visionaries and astute thinkers not only in science, but also in politics.

I think the decline in literary readership is creating a citizenry lacking in the ability to consume more than just bite-sized pieces of information. It also is leading to inability to process information and relate it back to life in a critical way.

Like many of you, I too am guilty of letting print-based media fall by the wayside. For there are several reasons for this, with the main being the availability of these media in electronic versions. I still the Marshall Democrat-News every day even though my subscription ended months ago. I just read the paper on-line.

I read print media when I am in locations with no access to the Internet. (Restaurants, doctors' offices, etc.) In these situations I will usually buy a copy of USA Today or read whatever magazine is kept in the place. I prefer Time and Newsweek, but will read People, Us Weekly or Entertainment Weekly if that is what is on hand.

Reading for me falls somewhere near watching television and ahead of viewing movies, but as I said before it is usually the digital version of traditional print media.