It's An Ad, Ad, Ad, Ad World

By Melissa August, Amanda Bower, Beau Briese, Rhett Butler, Kathryn Hoffman, Sora Song, Heather Won Tesoriero, Kadesha Thomas, Josh Tyrangiel

The average American sees an estimated 3,000 advertisements a day. And he's seeing them in increasingly odd places--at gas pumps, on stickers on apples and bananas, on sidewalks and rooftops, in full-color, full-sound videos at the ATM--a quick pitch for your cash before you draw it from your account. So-called ambient advertising is exploding as companies eschew traditional mass media in an attempt to get at jaded consumers where they work, shop and play. New Jersey-based Beach 'n Billboard, for example, imprints ads on sand, right. For upwards of $20,000, a company can get half a mile of ads up and down the beach every day for a month. The imprint may not last long, but it's hard not to notice an ad you have to sit on.