TV-Internet Interactivity

I was having a conversation a while back with my favorite Media Studies-hating friend while we were watching television. We saw one of those many commercials that have begun springing up in which a brief part of a story is told or something and then the commercials ends with an encouragement to go visit the website for more of the story.

His conclusion was that this was pretty stupid. He had never followed those directions and was kind of offended that the company was making him do more of their work. If they wanted to advertise to him, they should do it on their time, not on his. Going to their website would just mean buying into their whole marketing scheme.

Of course I thought that he was pretty stupid and that this is a great new method of intertextual interactivity. I hadn't ever realized it before, but these commercials are on the cutting edge of the new digital age. In much the same way that Beck was talking about utilizing several different mediums, these commercials are doing the same thing.

But this is all theoretical. I've never been to any of those sites either. I always think about how cool it might be and then continue soaking up the next commercial. In Beck's case it's cool because he's making art, but in a more practical medium, like marketing, is it as effective or groundbreaking? I can't even remember what any of those commercials are for.

Does anyone else out there know what I'm talking about? Have you been to those sites? Can you post links to any of those sites on here? I know that people on here are averse to posting comments, but I'm really interested to know what your thoughts and experiences are.