Advertising: How Much is to Much?

We have all been to sporting events, paid for our tickets, sat our tooshies in the seats and panned our eyeballs over every square inch of the enormous stadium.  Sometimes it seems that on every beam, concrete wall, and nook & cranny there is some sort of sign, sticker or electronic banner advertising for something.  Now personally when I go to a sporting event my focus is on the game itself, but sometimes I get caught up in those bright electronic signs flashing food images and I am just like gahhh!  I could really go for a McDonald's french fry or Taco Bell bean and cheese burrito.  That is the point right, for advertising within the stadium to captivate our attention just long enough to embed images in our minds, hoping that after the game fans will go and invest in those products.  So it poses this question, how much advertising signage is to much in a stadium to where it effects the fan experience?

Commercialization is the act of exploiting or making know for 
a financial gain.  It is seen very commonly in sporing arenas.  In my opinion, as soon as the advertisements distract me (the fan) form the game being held, that is when it effects my experience.  As soon as I, for some reason, crave that bean burrito, my attention and focus is not about the game it is about leaving the game to get food.  Now, if the stadium conveniently has a Taco Bell then my purchase would remain profitable for the sporting venue.  However, at what point do our brains stop absorbing the advertising we see and in turn just zone it out making it not as effective to the marketers? 


Studies show, that on average we see 3,000 ads per day.  Though it is not exactly determined how much of those advertisements really influence our buying power, they affect us in another way.  The most powerful effect of advertising is just to create a good feeling about a product by surrounding it with other things that we like.  This is called affective conditioning and it is proven most effective when we don't realize that it is happening. Why would advertisers want us to be happy and not more in tune with what they are trying to sell?  The feelings we have are often a good marker of what is safe to do and what is likely to turn out well. If we have to make a choice, and one of the options just feels good to us, then we are likely to go with the one that feels good, aka purchase.  


**More info at http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ulterior-motives/201008/what-does-advertising-do