It is a good read - thanks rc. I think a few things are overstated but I believe it's basically on target, as far as I understand marketing strategies that is
"Granted, today’s commercials demonstrate a greater corporate tolerance for pseudo-pornographic content, but that’s primarily a function of the increased difficulty of attracting eyeballs in the digital age. We’re not looser than we used to be: we’re just more desperate for attention."
Perhaps it's "primarily" due to the difficulty of attracting eyeballs. However, does anyone remember the days when a TV show would be banned, censored or trimmed appropriately if there was a scene in a bedroom where the woman did
not have at least one foot on the floor the entire time? How about 2-beds in the master bedroom of the parents of some show? Leave it to Beaver anyone??
There's a movie called The Celluloid Closet which deals with the sexual history of movies and television. The rules have dramatically relaxed from where they used to be but again I agree with the author's point that the desperation of attracting eyeballs is extreme these days.
Here's a comment from "marc" that reminded me of another point, "Couldn’t it be said that the people making the ads are unimaginative, lazy and otherwise generic?"
It's hard to underestimate the impact of drastically reduced marketing budgets these past years. When you lack the creative horsepower ($) to get the entire country chanting "Where's the Beef?" or "Mikey likes it!!" or even "two all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun," sex sells and it's extremely cheap to produce
