OK, a bit of a disclaimer here. I'm anti-system and all as much as the rest of the ppl I know, and which it seems most you are too. I think Hollywood selling sex is wrong, and a lot of the crap that comes out of there is brainless mindless crap for the masses to consume and try to repeat so they can be origional and different just like everybody else their age. So don't take this the wrong way. Having said that...
After reading through most of these posts, I have noticed a very anti-hollywood tone. I'm personally not against ppl making money off of me, and everyone else in America (and all over the world. Pop-culture I believe is still our #1 export...)
Yes, I think the commercials are a bunch of crap, and I dont think its probably hurting them very much. Especially in the category of music, I get to sample bands that are not too popular (and some that are somewhat popular) and often I'll actually buy a CD. I think I've probably bought about 10 CDs I otherwise would not have. And I'm cheap and dont buy CDs so....
Anyway, if ppl make money off me, more power to em. I wanna be rich someday too. I think if you are smart enough and work hard enough (with some luck of circumstance of course thrown in) to get into a career that makes you big bucks, be it acting, directing, selling software -- whatever -- then more power to ya. Having a lot of money in and of itself is not evil. Now when you use the power obtained by the money for bad things, thats a different story. But I dunno. I'm definitely not personally suffering from these ppl making money off of me. I think watching a movie at a theater for 8 bucks is entirely acceptable. Maybe I'm crazy, but for me, thats still pretty cheap entertainment. If they are making a good profit off of my entertainment, more power to em!