I am pretty consistent with my media consumption. I know what I like. I have a schedule of regularly viewed TV shows, websites and types of movies that I pretty much stick to. As such, I am subject to a large amount of advertising aimed at men. When you watch a lot of football, you're gonna be attacked by sponsors pimping out their beer, shaving cream and old man boner pills. These products all use the standard "appeal to stupid horny men" playbook of boobs, grown men acting like juvenile morons and more boobs. Except the old man boner pills. I would like to know the origin of the whole "presumably naked, elderly couple enjoying the sun set over a wheat field in separate, old timey bathtubs" thing. Am I out of touch in thinking that's a really weird image? Is that a common fantasy among the flaccid?
Anyway, as I watch these ads I always feel like they miss the mark. Either the ads are off or I am not a reflection of their true target audience. I hope I'm not. I like to think I'm not the guy that Edge Shaving Gel had in mind when they made this ad.
But yesterday I saw a commercial that totally nailed me. That sounded weird but you know what I mean. I was watching Tron. That's right, Tron. That movie holds up pretty damn well for being made in 1982. And it stars the Dude. You can't go wrong. It puts the Matrix to shame. Hell, it puts Citizen Kane to shame. Rosebud my ass.
Tron was being televised on one of the HD channels that I'm just discovering called G4. It is a TV channel devoted to video games. I was watching it with a bit of smug attitude. "What a stupid network. A whole channel devoted to Halo? Stupid nerds." And then this commercial came on. It was like the TV read my soul.
Alright, so I hate Anime and I don't know what Master Chief is, so it's not a perfect fit. But judging by the market research of these Television networks (which is never ever wrong), I belong with the G4 crowd more than I belong with the ESPN crowd. That makes me feel a little conflicted.
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