I've been tracking North American culture through television advertising for half a century.
Like the authorities, advertisers were caught off-guard by this pandemic thingie - a full month into universal panic mode and non-stop news coverage of abso-bloody-lutely-nothing-else, advertisements continued pretty much as routine, urging us to go do things and buy things we obviously can't do and buy.
I wondered how they would eventually react.
The first thing I noticed was a Subaru ad, replaced by a thank-you message to front-line workers. A
The Brick hopes we'll come back, after, and take advantage of their deferred payment plan. C-
Ikea celebrates the home in gently modified terms B+
Tim Horton shows a manically happy girl with no mask or shield at the takeout window. D
The very best ad is from Vision Network. It says:
"For the first time in history
we have a chance to save the human race
by lying in front of the tv
and doing nothing.
Let's not screw this up!" A+
Gradually, something else changed. I began to wonder what that strange sensations was, like the absence of a chronic pain... It finally dawned on me: I haven't wanted to throw the Trivago guy off his hotel balcony for over a week! Yea!!
Have you been bored enough to watch television?
Do you want to grade an advertisement?
Like the authorities, advertisers were caught off-guard by this pandemic thingie - a full month into universal panic mode and non-stop news coverage of abso-bloody-lutely-nothing-else, advertisements continued pretty much as routine, urging us to go do things and buy things we obviously can't do and buy.
I wondered how they would eventually react.
The first thing I noticed was a Subaru ad, replaced by a thank-you message to front-line workers. A
The Brick hopes we'll come back, after, and take advantage of their deferred payment plan. C-
Ikea celebrates the home in gently modified terms B+
Tim Horton shows a manically happy girl with no mask or shield at the takeout window. D
The very best ad is from Vision Network. It says:
"For the first time in history
we have a chance to save the human race
by lying in front of the tv
and doing nothing.
Let's not screw this up!" A+
Gradually, something else changed. I began to wonder what that strange sensations was, like the absence of a chronic pain... It finally dawned on me: I haven't wanted to throw the Trivago guy off his hotel balcony for over a week! Yea!!
Have you been bored enough to watch television?
Do you want to grade an advertisement?