That is, until they become news, and show up in newscasts, where they are played, for free, for millions of people.
I'm not sayin, I'm just sayin.
And tonight you'll see the latest ad from the John McCain camp (they have become expertise at this strategy), which takes some of Barak Obama's more preachy speeches and mocks the savior-like way some people view the Senator from Illinois.
McCain apparently made reference to the ad today, saying it was a "fun" spot.
You can see the ad for yourself by clicking HERE. And you can see it again, tonight on Eyewitness News at 11.
Meanwhile, the news about the economy continues to be not-so-good. And by not-so-good I mean horrible.
Today, General Motors, Ford, Toyota and several others said that their sales in the U.S. in July fell by double digits. In fact, July sales are reportedly at the lowest level in more than a decade. If you like trucks and SUV's - there are thousands of them, just sitting in dealer lots.
We'll have the hard numbers, at 11. And speaking of numbers, consider this: General Motors reported a loss of $15 billion for the second quarter. This comes after Exxon Mobil's record quarterly profit of nearly $12 billion - the biggest in U.S. history. Or, as one of our Internet producers, Bill King, points out, even if Exxon donated its record profits to GM, the car giant would still have posted a huge loss.
Remember the old saying, "As GM goes, so goes the nation?"
Gulp.
And we noticed this statement from the office of New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine today, reacting to the deaths of eight people on a small plane that took off from Atlantic City and crashed in Minnesota. Two of the victims were executives of New York-based Tishman Speyer Construction.
Anyway, Corzine took the typical "our hearts go out....." approach. But then the Governor, who came this-close to death himself a year ago April in a horrific car crash, offered this: "This crash serves as reminder that life is fragile, precious and fleeting, and we must make the most of the time we've been given."
Corzine's brush with death has left him a changed man. He readily admits that. And his beyond-the-typical-statement today proves it once again.
Good for him.
Also at 11, Tappy Phillips and 7 On Your Side offer some tips about how to get better mileage - like doubling your gas mileage. Something called "hypermiling."
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Lee Goldberg's weekend AccuWeather forecast, and Marvell Scott (in for Scott Clark) with the night's sports. I hope you can join Liz Cho and me, tonight at 11, right after 20/20.
