Sunday, October 28, 2007

calvin & hobbes


These two are a riot. Each album by Bill Watterson offers up new parodies on everyday life. Me gusta mucho.

And alas, Calvin has something to say about TV advertising:

Look at these TV commercials. Each one is a jumble of lightning quick, unrelated images and film techniques.

It duplicates the effect of rapidly flipping through channels. It's a barrage of non-linear free association.

Hobbes: I guess they're admitting that a 15-second commercial exceeds the American attention span by a good 14 seconds.

Huh? Are you still talking about that?

I've always thought of TV commercials as little movies. Each one setting up a problem for a hero character/product to over come and all the while, vying for our attention with flashy photography and images. Some commercials shouldn't be missed, but I have to agree with Hobbes's wisdom: Americans don't hang out long enough unless there's a reason to. Hmmm, a second. So significant and yet so precious and completely innocent.

2 comments:

tomhaskell said...

I wonder if there's any research on tv advertising attention spans across countries?

It'd be interesting to take a developing country and monitor the rate at which attention to tv ads drop as new media develops.

What's responsible for the lack of attention: bad targeting; poor quality; or sheer quantity?

Anonymous said...

Calvin and Hobbes was the greatest cartoon strip ever created. It's no surprise to me, at least, that Watterson did such a fine job capturing the distaste for and resignation to our right now snack culture.