Oh well, i dont pay much attention to advertising - I dont listen to the radio, buy newspapers or watch tv. I get my news from the independent and guardian online and i use adblock so i dont see the ads on there. If i see an article is from a press release i wont read it. So it tends to pass me by these days.
When i studied media at my school we had to do a piece of advertising coursework, i got 114/120 with my partner on marketing a band. It was then that i decided to never work in the advertising industry or study advertising again. In our brainstorm sessions when we made the marketing package we just discussed the most cynical methods we could use to sell something and we got ridiculous with it and had such a bad idea of humanity then i felt horrible getting the best mark in my year on it.
I agree with bill hicks - "if you ever work on an advert, you are off the artistic roll call forever".