TV ads

[Cooper John N <jcooper@BUCKNELL.EDU>]

On Sat, 24 Nov 2001, Jim Green wrote:

> I guess that I am still trying to make sense out of current TV ads.
> Only a few seem worth the expense.  Most seem to me to be a total
> waste of time and some are plainly counter productive.

  It seems obvious to me that TV ads are not intended to teach physics,
any more than are/were the Wiley coyote cartoons.  Rather they are
intended to inculcate and perpetuate infantile fantasies .. buy this
product and get more sex .. survive catastrophic collisions .. etc.
  My daughter is majoring in computer animation.  We've spent hours
laughing at the unphysical constructs put out by the motional media but
when I ask her why she/they don't work on being more sensible, she says
they don't care .. to do it right would spoil the imaginary (read fantasy)
component.
  Many TV ads are effective precisely because they DON'T make sense.
They are worth the expense if they contribtue to bilking the suckers by
tying into and re-enforcing their fantasy-lives.
  Your best bet is, as many have, to use their errors as teaching points
in your own pedagogy but relinquish the dream of trying to get an industry
based on deception and wish-fulfillment to correct the visual spiel, to
abjure the sleight of hand and tongue, of the carney/midway scam.  Truth
in advertising?  What planet you from, James?

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 ** John N. Cooper                           **
 ** Chemistry Department                     **
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