Why are almost all advertisements unintelligent? What kind of person is sold on products this way?

They go for the lowest common denominator. No one will buy something they don't understand, so they aim ads so that anyone can clearly understand what they are selling and how it will benefit them. The person they are selling to may not be very well educated, or may speak English as a second language, or may even be a kid. (Just because they can't buy it now doesn't mean they won't in a few years.)

You also have to take into account that TV ads, anyway, only have a minute to tell you about their product. You can't go into much depth in only a minute.

Of course this means we are stuck listening to drivel about "belly fat" and such. It's enough to make me want to jam a pencil in my eardrums sometimes. Thank God for Tivo.

Regardless advertisement has been working successfully for years. The key to all communication is to keep it simple and advertisement does this well.

commoner people as their attention span is awful. people want something short, meaningless and straight to the point.just like todays pop music, the ads are probaly aimed at this sort of audience too.

popular culture,damn you. everything wrong with todays society.