Today on the mediabistro.com Morning Media Menu podcast, hosts Jason Boog of GalleyCat and AgencySpy's Matt Van Hoven welcomed advertising expert George Parker to dish about the ad industry.

Matt, the editor of mediabistro's advertising blog, asked Parker why car ads have been been so poor in recent years. "The dealers are incredibly powerful even though the main brands...pony up most of the money [for the ads]," Parker said. "Most car dealers think that if you offer people a free hot tub if they come test drive a Hummer, they will pay $90,000 to drive away with the car." However, Volkswagen and Volvo have had some great ads in the past few years, he added.

Now that Parker is a blogger, he said he gets solicited a lot and is frequently asked to promote a certain ad or product. "I tell them, if you want me to promote your stuff you have to pay me," he said. "And I'll not guarantee I'll say nice things. And I never hear back."

"I talk about the business and the people in the business," unlike other blogs like AgencySpy, Parker added. "I only talk about the work when it's relevant."

Also discussed: the current state of the advertising industry, book publishing and Amazon.com and the Kindle. You can read more of Parker's thoughts on his blog and pick up his book, "The Ubiquitous Persuaders," from Amazon.

You can listen to all the past podcasts at BlogTalkRadio.com/mediabistro and call in at 646-929-0321.