Coming Soon: Phone Commercials

CRAIG: Hi Meghan...According to CTIA watchers, it would appear that mobile advertising will soon be coming to a cell phone near you!  Just imagine, before you can download that Ashlee Simpson ringtone you've always wanted, you'll be treated to a 30-second spiel on how your lifestyle could be dramatically enhanced through the use of prescription Viagra.  I'm looking forward to this new technology advancement about as much as my next dental appointment.  What do you think?

MEGHAN: In a recent survey, In Stat found that “20% of wireless phone users would find some form of advertising on their mobile handsets to be acceptable. Of that group, roughly half were open to having advertisers subsidize the cost of premium services such as directory assistance, ringtones and messaging.”  If that’s the case, let the advertisers help bring down the costs of premium services and keep our monthly phone bills low! 

CRAIG: If only 20% of wireless users would find phone advertising acceptable, that means 80% do not.  I agree that subsidization is a great idea, but how much of a cost reduction would actually occur?  It's more likely that phone charges won't change at all.  Perhaps it would reduce the costs incurred by the providers, but how likely is it that those cost savings will be passed down to the little people like us?  Consider this similar example: Have commercials at the movie theater improved the quality of the movies or decreased the unreasonable amount of money people have to pay for movie tickets?  Alas, no.  In fact, suffering through intolerable cinematic crud like Gigli or Alexander costs more than ever! 

The question remains: if consumers have already revolted against telemarketing calls during dinner, what makes wireless companies believe people want advertisers to be able to reach them at the dinner table and beyond?  At least the telemarketers of old were limited by the length of the cord.