Purity of Purpose

I often look at different media - books, movies, television, what have you - and try to hypothesize the purpose the creator intended for it. Most creators do not create needlessly: Even the most pretentious artist can usually manage a justification more substantial than "I did it because I felt like it, and if you don't get it then my creative process is above you." Video games are commonly some of my favorite things to muse over simply because of the sheer amount of collaboration (and, therefore, number of "why?" questions to be asked) involved: Why did the writers decide on this story? Why was the control scheme designed in this manner? WHY on god's green earth did the graphics department make everything the same color?
This break-down, of course, all ends with the advent of games in advertising, but they still fascinate me for different reasons. In these, artistry is far from paramount; in fact, the creativity involved in advergame design is more akin to graphic design, in which an artist does not create for their own satisfaction, but to be commissioned to create to specifications set by another body of people. The mission, the purpose, is to make a target audience want something. Ian Bogost would surely approve: according to his own definition, the Advergame is Procedural Rhetoric in its purest form.
The invasion of the mass-media with advertising has always intrigued me from the standpoint of what is considered "ok" and what is considered over-the-line: for instance, the fact that blatant advertising (while perhaps politically incorrect or in otherwise poor taste) in television and print media is considered perfectly normal, the greater majority of American youth get up-in-arms over even the most subtle product placement. Which begs another "why" question: Why is it that gamers view product placement (as a part of games) and advergames (as full-fledged media in and of themselves) with equal disdain?
We discussed how earlier in the semester video games are perhaps looked upon with some cynicism by the majority of the population due to their relatively young age compared to other mediums. I think this, too is the answer to the previously-postulated question: video games, as a new frontier, have not had as much time to become corrupted by advertising as other media works. However, as the technology involved has become more capable and the nature of the medium has been embraced by society, media corporations cannot be expected not to take notice.
After all, everything has a purpose, and the purity of that purpose does not necessarily sell for very much.