Advertisements: There must be a better way

Advertisements have gotten so out of control that we're forced to watch an ad. for a product we don't want in order to get to watch an ad. for a product we do want.  I try to watch the Black Swan movie trailer, and I have to sit through an HP printer commercial.  I listen to some Ben Harper on Pandora and a "song" about warm winter fleeces comes on.  Amazon pleasantly surprised me by not inserting an ad. before the Kindle video I willingly watched.

The amount and annoyance of TV advertisements is the main reason I gave up watching TV in college and grad school, switching to watching YouTube, Netflix and my own DVDs.  Recently I've found TV tolerable once again, since with the help of DVR, I waste only about 4-7 seconds at each commercial break to fast forward through the commercials.

Is having more ads. in every possible place beneficial for anyone?  The number of ads. on TV and their annoyance level (e.g., volume) increases, as networks seek to increase revenue and retailers seek to increase sales.  This surely isn't making people watch more ads. though, or watch more shows on TV.  Instead people find effective methods to ignore, mute or fast forward through all that.  Networks reduce the amount of real content they show to create ad. space, advertisers waste money airing the ads., I waste time and my sanity trying to ignore all of this to get to see the things I actually like.  I guess the makers of DVR win at least.

Admittedly, I like some advertisements because they are informative, entertaining and/or funny.  Can't we find a better way to target audiences?  Like publishing a list of all the commercials for products that are available online, so people can willingly watch them.  Having a website, linked to GMail, Facebook, and other social websites, that would suggest products you would like, and offer you places to watch their ads. and links to places those products are available to buy.  Making a better commercial may actually become a competition because of the side-by-side comparisons, like the Super Bowl, and the multiple of A*N, where A = Attention people give to commercials and N = Number of people who would consider buying the product and watch the commercials, would probably go up.  The alternative (aka, the current reality), is just cruel and wasteful.