Chris Rattue: Subliminal machine gun advertising

Subliminal advertising used to be the enemy but it's got nothing on sub-machine gun advertising during the English premiership.

The electronic advertising hoardings around Manchester United's famous Old Trafford pitch are a blinking nuisance to the television watcher. They are like bullets to the eyes.

It was, at times, hard to concentrate on and enjoy the latest clash between United and Arsenal as the advertisements kept flickering and changing.

Obviously, in a sport where adverts are prevented from swarming all over the playing surface a la the rugby codes, marketeers have schemed to grab the viewers' attention via another method.

I can't remember the problem being as blatant previously. Whatever the case, it really caught the eyes in the early hours of Monday morning.

The advertising department can hardly play the innocent either. The ads have one major purpose, to grab attention, and they do it in the most annoying way.

There was one bullet worth watching in the latest round of the premiership however. Didier Drogba's goal for Chelsea against Liverpool, a ripping swivel-shot from the edge of the penalty area, was an absolute stunner and one that will go down as a classic in premiership history. Expect plenty of rescreenings.