Seeing as this past weekend was National Pay Attention to Commercials Day (some call it the Superbowl), I thought it would be appropriate to discuss those precious nuggets of entertainment.
I happen to pay attention to commercials because I like the funny ones. I am not the kind of person who changes the channel the minute they come on. Jen, my ADD partner, immediately switches to VH1 (followed in rapid succession by every other music channel she's programmed into the "favorites" button on the remote...which I am not allowed to touch). Anyway, she hates commercials. And if they go on too long, she forgets what she was watching in the first place.
On average, Americans view about 3 hours of commercials for every 10 hours of actual programming. Commercials today last about 15 seconds (which is more ADD-friendly than in the 1960's when they lasted a full minute, and consisted primarily of sock puppets telling you to buy soap). Still, ADDers seem to tune out for those 15 seconds, no matter how hard the advertisers work.
So often in our house, Jen will turn to me during a commercial and exclaim, "Honey, look what they just came out with!" and I will say, "Honey, that commercial has been airing for months. You have seen it with your own eyes at least 3 times."
But the ADD eye-brain connection thingy is out to lunch during commercials, so the advertising world will have to just try a little harder to get through.
Feel free to leave comments about how much Jen would love TiVO.
Somtimes I still make the mistake of trying to discuss a commercial with my wife. Both of our eyes are focused on the television, but I am the only one in the room paying attention to the commercial.
Posted by: John M | February 07, 2007 at 09:31 PM