I don’t agree with everything Boston Phoenix writer Steve Stark argues in a recent piece questioning the value of campaign ads on TV, but I think the gist of it is correct:

To the extent that TV ads have ever had an impact in a general election, that influence has been sharply diminished by the Internet and TiVo Ages. Viewers now receive their information in ways that minimize their contact with commercials. Sure, advertisers still flock to television. But effective product commercials these days run far more often and strategically than do political ads, and production-value-wise, they are light years ahead of anything the candidates ever put out.