Zeitgeist

I’ve been huddled under my blanket in front of the TV for most of the day as the silent battle between viruses and white blood cells continues. (Go blood cells!)

I can report that, yes, it’s true: day time TV is an utter waste land. But you probably knew that.

More surprising are the ads. Whenever I read a magazine, watch TV, or consume any other kind of advertising-sponsored, media I like to play the demographics game—who do the sponsors think is consuming this media? It’s easy and fun! All you have to do is guess who would like to purchase the product or service you’re just being shown, then aggregate as the show goes on, and you’ll probably end up with a pretty accurate guess of the demographics that particular show is tailored to. It’s even more fun when it’s a show you enjoy. Do you match your own demographic?

For the meta-aggregate of daytime TV viewers who don’t land on the talk shows—oh, the Bard himself could not articulate my loathing for the talk shows—there seem to be two major problems consumption will solve:

Apparently, I must purchase a new vehicle. I’m not sure why, but since there are “brand” car ads all the time, there must be some sort of void in my life that can only be filled by a new vehicle. So shiny.

Much more surprisingly, it seems that this great country is plagued by an infestation of smelly domiciles. There are ads for air fresheners of various kinds and persuasions during what seems like every single commercial break. Who are these people with the smelly houses? Why do their houses stink so bad? How much does this industry gross (rimshot) anyway?

Here’s a slightly off-kilter idea I’ve been toying with: If your house smells bad, how about you clean it? If you change the cat litter, maybe it won’t stink quite so much? Yes? No? Maybe?