Murketing: Rob Walker, author of many of my favorite articles about marketing (he used to produce regular columns for Slate and is a frequent contributor to The New York Times Magazine) has a new blog that could quickly become required reading.

In this post he vents a little of his frustration with his HMO, but reserves some scorn for a performing arts center that (presumably) paid to have an ad inserted with his HMO bill, asking: “Can it really be the case that these people have paid my HMO for the privilege of promoting themselves alongside my outrageous bill? Could there possibly be a worse time to pitch me than right now?”

Leaving aside the possibility that the ad was a freebie—perhaps part of some “support the arts” philanthropy by the company in question—Walker predicts that ads with speeding tickets are not going to be far behind. “All the positive experiences that can be branded are already taken. All that’s left to sponsor are the occasions of misery, discomfort and rage.”