Last week a writer of the popular weblog reported hearing strange voices in his head as he walked on the street. He soon realised that a device placed on top of a billboard for a paranormal show was generating sound waves that used his skull to create the effect. The marketer and the agency that created the advertising must be rejoicing at the publicity that this unusual tactic has generated. Maybe the idea will win a few awards too. But is it really good news? Is it another leap for adkind, one that could start a revolution?

Advertising is probably the only industry in the world that has a department called creative. So new ideas, and new ways to spread these ideas have been welcomed with open arms. Every time technology has thrown up something new, agencies have looked it up. Newspapers, television, radio, public spaces, stores, web pages, they have all seen advertising and marketing messages of just about every kind. Whenever the need arose, the industry invented ways to communicate with its audience. Direct marketing, telemarketing and product placements of every kind are now a part of our lives. The figures may wary, but most people agree that there are way too many marketing messages coming at us.

Advertising clutter is not new. In 1759, Samuel Johnson wrote “Advertisements are now so numerous that they are very negligently perused, and it is therefore become necessary to gain attention by magnificence of promises, and by eloquence sometimes sublime and sometimes pathetic.”. One response from the industry to fight clutter has been to find newer and newer ways to interrupt people. Neuro marketing, Pheromone Marketing, Headvertising, a spoofy tostvertising site peddles  Dustin Black’s Book of Spam. product placement in school report cards. An Australian woman is selling her pubic hair, promising to place an ad on a virtual page devoted to the sale.

While advertisers will continue to look for ways to reach consumers in just about any way, there are instances of governments taking steps to combat the ever increasing intrusion of advertising and marketing messages. Overzealous telemarketers were restrained by legislation that instituted do not call lists. Cities like Sao Paulo have banned billboards. A mistaken attempt at stunt marketing saw the creators of the idea spend time in jail. Marketing to children is being restricted in many markets (in fact, marketers have voluntarily come forward to stop pushing messages to children). Spammers are going to jail. And commentators are calling outdoor messages urban spam.

Even consumers have joined the fight with the same technology that makes it possible for advertisers and marketers to spread their messages. Plugins on popular browsers block online banner ads. Skipping ads using devices like TiVo are shaking up the foundations of marketing and broadcast mediums. Attempts to send out targeted messages on social networking site Facebook created so much disillusionment that the creator of the platform had to apologise publicly. Elsewhere, a growing army of consumers are keeping a vigil to expose stealth marketing attempts.

So what does the future herald for an industry in transition? Given the size and scale of the industry, can marketing become something more that just a way of pushing down messages? Can marketing become a service that delivers new kinds of value to consumers? Can advertising and marketing communication look at ways to enrich people’s lives rather than hunt for insights that merely create opportunities to sell? If we can treat people as partners in a celebration of life, we could all be creating something of lasting value.