United States of Advertising
Some photos taken from flicking through TV channels whilst on vacation in the USA this summer. All images were taken within a 5-minute period without any knowledge of the channels.
I remember growing up with 2.5 channels (ITV was always a crap signal) and thinking it was great, then I went to Canada in the 80’s and I spent the first 2 days just watching television because I couldn’t believe they had so many channels. As a child I just loved this….I had to be dragged away from the TV…
This 5-minute period of channel hopping in the USA this summer was enough to put me off TV for life. It was 95% advertisements, and long advertisements, whole channels devoted to it, selling not only face creams that make you look younger and real estate. This was advertising on a whole new level, the idea that somewhere out there is a product to dramatically change your life – from saving your soul, losing your fat arse, to more worrying messages about how unhealthy and wrong your life is. And of course when you’re that screwed up the best salvation is to spend, spend, spend.
Mixed in with this concoction of absurd marketing is the US presidential campaign – being sold to us by attractive women with banner highlights in case we cant be bothered to listen, (and of course to highlight the key messages that they want us to digest.) But of course, its not all bad, you can also help other screwed up people through the Jewish Agency for Israel, where you can return one Russian Jew to the Israel for $350 or you can return a family of 4 for $1400, which isn’t actually that much of a saving when you add it up….
Interestingly, the only programme that wasn’t a commercial was a re-run of the Adams Family from the 1960’s…it lasted 3 minutes before a commercial rudely interrupted it. At this point I switched off the TV and never switched it back on again. Worrying times for the USA now with the current financial crisis, it made me think if the tone of the advertisements had changed, but I doubt it, if anything it will be upped to 5th gear….
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