FACT: Each person will receive almost 560 pieces of junk mail this year. Theaverage persongets only 1.5 personal letters each week, compared to 10.8 pieces of junkmail.
OPINION: If only mail-order brides were as reliable as junk mail.

FACT: A clothing store in Macon, Georgia, ran an advertisement in the upperleft corner of page2A of The Macon Telegraph every day from 1889 to 1987. This amounted to atotal of 35291ads.
OPINION: This store stopped running ads after their failed attempt tointroduce "straplessoveralls" to Macon forced them out of business.

FACT: The most pages of advertisements sold in a single issue of aperiodical is 829.54, in theOctober 1989 edition of Business Week.
OPINION: Most of the pages in Business Week are filled with smutty picturesof accountants inspiked leather thongs doing tax returns....or so I'm told.

FACT: The largest advertising sign was the two-sided sign at the HiltonHotel and Casino in LasVegas. It had a total area of 7,648 square meters and was 110.3 meters highwhen completed inDecember 1993. Part of it fell down in a storm on July 18 1994, but itremains both the largestand the tallest sign, as well as the world's tallest illuminated sign.
OPINION: You'd need a sign that big to advertise such high profile acts thatperform in Vegaslike Wayne Newton, Siegfried and Roy, and Carrot Top.

FACT: The highest ever TV advertising rate was $2.2 million per minute, ABC's prime-time during the transmission of Super Bowl XXX on January 28, 1996.
OPINION: I'm always disappointed when I watch football. When I hear that theDolphins areplaying the Cowboys, I expect to see a field full of real cowboys from theold west and dolphinsfrom Sea World. But it never fucking happens! There's usually just a bunchof overpaid,professional athletes. Well something tells me Vince McMahon will change allof this.

FACT: An advertisement for Reebok's InstaPUMP shoes was created, filmed andaired duringSuper Bowl XXVII at the Atlanta Georgia Dome on January 31, 1993. Filmingcontinued untilthe beginning of the fourth quarter of play, editing began in the middle ofthe third quarter andthe finished product was aired during the break at the two-minute warning of the fourthquarter. It starred Emmitt Smith of the Dallas Cowboys and lasted 30seconds.
OPINION: The only reason Reebok's inflatable shoes didn't catch on isbecause they don't comein funny shapes like balloons do.

FACT: The longest advertisement on British television was a 7 minute and 10second slot onGood Morning Britain on January 20, 1985.
OPINION: A 7 minute tea break must have been exciting for the Queen Mumwhile thecommercial was on the tely, but not nearly as exciting as her 7 minute peebreak.

FACT: Coca-Cola was first registered as a trademark by Atlanta pharmacistBriggs Chandler in1893. The distinctive script was advertised on fans, serving trays,calendars and countless otherspecialty items, eventually making it the most recognized trademark in theworld.
OPINION: Coca-Cola's greatest achievement was secretly killing Pepsispokesman, MacauleyCulkin.

FACT: To support recruiting efforts and sales of war bonds and stamps duringWorld War 1,thousands of advertisers featured war themes in their campaigns while mediacontributed space.By 1919, the contributions totaled $2.5 billion.
OPINION: After contributing so much to their country, when the war was over,advertisersdecided to continue helping out America by teaching children the correct wayto smokecigarettes.

FACT: Celebrity endorsements were a popular tool by cigarette advertisers toadd glamour totheir brand during the Golden Age of Hollywood.
OPINION: When I think of glamour during the Golden Age of Hollywood, thefirst thing thatcomes to my mind is Fatty Arbuckle.

FACT: In 1982, Apple began one of the decade's most aggressive advertisingcampaigns. Itsobjective was to take some of the mystery out of personal computers.
OPINION: Bill Gates' only objective was to talk to girls.

FACT: Nike pictured sports figures wearing its shoes in giant size adsduring the 1984 LosAngeles Summer Olympics - a fitting symbol of America's growing presence inthe internationalmarket.
OPINION: And a fitting symbol of Americans dominating foreign countries insports as well assweat shops. USA! USA! USA!

FACT: In October 1994, "HotWired" was launched with the first banner ads on the Internet. Advertisers include AT&T, MCI, Sprint, Volvo and others.
OPINION: The thing I love about banner ads on the Internet is that one minute you're checking out some website, then with the simple click of a mouse you end up looking at a page with naked chicks and billy goats.

Stephan MacLeod was born in the VG Hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He moved to Sydeny, Cape Breton in the fifth grade, and currently lives in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island with his mother.