Nowadays, when I do have the occasion to see television, I watch the commercials and programs with a kind of bemused detachment. Most of what I see doesn't make me desire their product, but instead makes me wonder who the hell falls for such ridiculous claims and ... oh yeah, a few years ago it would have been me.
Advertising has become less about showcasing a product and more about trying to convince you that by using this product, you will:
- Become popular and well-respected among your peers and others.
- Get laid, or at least become more desirable to the opposite sex.
- All of the above.
As a dorky little kid with very few friends, anytime something was advertised that held even the remotest of promises of popularity, I bought into it hard. Maybe it was just a way of instilling a sense of conformity at a relatively young age in an attempt to make it routine in later years, but whatever it was, it worked. And yet, for all of my attempts at seeking approval, I was still the dorky kid with very few friends and some version of the latest "cool" thing.
I'll feature some of the ads from those bygone days, along with personal reflections on what I was thinking when I first saw these items and whether or not I actually obtained them. Maybe, in the course of doing this I can figure out why today's ads don't hold the allure their older counterparts did. I think it's just because I've gotten more cynical and skeptical in my old age.
