Advertising in Live Theater?

Recently I wrote about my reaction to advertising at the Raue Center in Crystal Lake. An audio advertisement for a car dealership was broadcast just before the start of the performance and there was an invitation to applaud to commercial sponsorships of the program.

I posted a survey with the question, "Should live-theater audiences be subjected to audio advertising?"

Early in the week-long survey, the numbers favoring such advertising ran well ahead of those not in favor but, by the end of the week, they were almost even. The results?

Yes 20 (51%)
No 19 (49%)

When 49% of even a small sample is not in favor of such advertising, I'd say that's a pretty strong message to that theater and to every theater that patrons/customers do not want to be subjected to in-theater audio or visual advertising.