Advertisements and ME

“How many advertisements do you think you see in an average day?”

Significantly fewer now that I filter my javascript. I don't drive long distances or watch a lot of mainstream TV (more Hulu and streaming movies), but everyone is selling something. Probably between 25-30 ads per day, if you count analyzing design of things in general. One sees ads at school, on t-shirts, while watching TVs. I would say TV itself exists solely for the purpose of placing ads.

“What types of ads have the greatest impact on you, personally?”

I always remember designs that are really flashy or have some pretty motion graphic. I'm totally superficial. You can't support a whole movie on expensive graphics, but you know what? For 60 seconds, it's perfectly effective. I also love ads that don't take themselves too seriously, ones that have a silly song (the Dodge Nitro commercial where the car falls through the earth, Starbuck's "Hank") or which are deeply cynical or dark in some way (numerous pop-tart commercials). I always get a kick out of something innocent juxtaposed with something dark. Commercials with cute animals are usually a safe middle ground, I can't complain about cute animals.
I think commercials that I'm least impressed with are those that present what seem to be some pretty boring situations...office settings (even more depressing because it tries to be funny), random sexy girls (could be so much more clever), or men being henpecked (I don't think there's a single male-geared item that isn't pitched this way--any product can be a temporary escape, kind of a sad reflection on society) And, like most people, I hate commercials that are overly loud or have something obnoxious about them, a crying baby, someone repeating something. Bleh.