My favorite hobbies include giving back massages, cooking dinner and admitting when I’m wrong.

If you’ve been directed here from my homepage you probably read the following:

Yes, I really do hate ads. And yes, I believe that’s a good thing (especially for somebody in the business of making them).

It’s a good thing because real people—the ones we’re trying to talk to—don’t like ads either.

We hate when our show is interrupted or our scenery blocked. We’re never on the edge of our seat waiting for the next campaign to drop. And we flat out can’t stand being sold something.

Because we’re bombarded with so many ads every single day, we’re now experts at spotting them. We know exactly when to turn the page, change the channel, or close our eyes-cover our ears-and scream.

Like most people carrying out their daily lives, I don’t seek out advertising. Instead, I follow what interests me. What entertains me. What makes me laugh. Smile. Or even cry.

If that thing happens to be an ad, it’s because it doesn’t look like an ad.

Instead, this piece of communication (if it is that) offers me a gift. It respects my intelligence and my ability to read. It’s a resource that rewards me for spending time with it. It never tries to jam a product down my throat.

Such ideas don’t come from advertising. This is why I want to work in the industry.

I want to be in a profession that rewards me for being a sponge to the world. Where better work comes from soaking up as much knowledge from as many people and places as possible. I want to have a career that encourages me to experience life to its fullest.

I don’t hate ads because I think it’ll make me better at making them. Maybe “hate” is the wrong word. I just don’t pay them that much attention.

When I sit down to work on an assignment I’m not thinking about an ad. I’m thinking about my life.

Enough about ads.