Gradually, through years, on the rise is my displeasure with essentially all journals (six) I am subscribed. I canceled my subscription to Newsweek and I am about ready to do the same with Scientific American. Of course, for more than one reason but the main one, common to all of them, is too much advertising; not only by volume but also the way it is incorporated into the journal body. I can’t concentrate on the contents, I can’t smoothly follow the text from column to column, from page to page.

Newspapers are a pain, especially weekends, because of all the junk advertising they fold into them.[...]

Magazines are unpleasant to read for the same reason. You have to tear the junk out of Times or Newsweek before you can read them. [...]

Television is worst of all, of course. [...]

Here’s my suggestion. The Government insists on warning labels these days. How about this? Every newspaper, every magazine, every radio and television broadcast would have to say, up front, what percentage of the contents was advertising.

WARNING: This magazine is 50% advertising!

WARNING: The broadcast you are about to watch is 27% commercials!

Andy Rooney: Years of Minutes, PublicAffairs, New York, 2003.

Imagine a commercial in which the manufacturer would say: "Here are the highs of our product..."

and "these are the lows..."