In 1941 the first commercial television is broadcast.
In 1945 Gimbel's Department Store in Philadelphia held a television demonstration that attracted over 25,000 people in 3 weeks. People had a chance to watch NBC programs from New York and local shows sent out by a Philadelphia station.
Since this time humans have been completely enthralled by television. Of course, with any form of media comes advertising. Advertising has always interested me, especially now when companies need to try harder then ever to keep the attention span of the constantly disinterested American.
Advertisements have been around longer then any of us can remember. We've been subject to them when we read the newspaper, when we listen to the radio, when we drive our cars, when we watch television, and now, when we turn on our computers. There is no escaping advertisements (no matter how hard we try). Personally I've had a lot of experience watching television, and I can honeslty say that I'd rather sing the Oscar Meyer weiner song then sing our national anthem. We get these little 30-second bits of information that permeate our skulls better then things that our teachers have been trying to drill into us for 10 years. The difference...commercials are catchy, they amuse use, excite us, and sometimes entertain us more then the show we were watching.
Advertisments that don't amuse us, or annoy us are promptly cut from the stations schedule. Advertisers have to keep up with us. We have the attention spans of tse-tse flies. Advertisers spend millions of dollars for a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl. I personally only watch the Super Bowl to see who has the best new commercials. I don't know about anyone else, but when the commercials are the most interesting things on television it worries me.
I understand that every company has their target audience, but we are at a point where there is a very thin line between the advertisements and the actual programs. (Remember the wife in the movie "The Truman Show")
Advertisements affect our self esteem, it's hard to feel good about oneself when there are so many weight loss commercials on television.
There is only one solution...watch less televsion. Read a book, use the internet. Although even now the internet is being flooded with unwanted advertisments (take the one in the upper right hand corner of this page).
Is there no escape, will there ever be a return to advertising based on the merits of a product, and not based on who can make the funniest, most interesting commercials? Or are we doomed to dancing bears, celebrity spots and hyperactive sales people?
