While we put you on hold, here's some lovely ads to listen to!

WSJ online report that marketers have found another spot with "captive" audiences - that time when you are put on hold as you call customer service.

The start-ups behind this new technology say customers are particularly susceptible to marketing pitches while they are on hold because they are attentively waiting for someone to arrive on the other end of the line.

Oh there's a special place in hell for the people who thought this up, right below the guys who turned ABBA, Beatles and White Snakes songs into muzak. Fully aware that this would be one of the most annoying places in the world to hear ads, it continues;

But marketers have to tread carefully. Being stuck on hold is a big consumer pet peeve, and there is a danger of riling customers -- or potential customers -- even more by blitzing them for ads. For that reason, ads tend to be short -- typically less than 30 seconds.

And that there just slays me, as radio spots over here tend to be 25 seconds or less. I can barely handle being put on hold, I will not take kindly to have to listen to ads while I wait. Hat tip, Burns auto parts