For Gen Xers who grew up in the 1970s, most of us remember at least a few of the iconic advertising campaigns by an organization known as the Ad Council. Indeed, the crying native American TV ads helped influence an entire generation of us. The ads themselves received all kinds of awards from the advertising industry. But is this a case of a Hollywood-esque awards show sponsored by the industry, giving itself various awards and forcing the country to watch as it does so? The short answer is "kind of".
Catch this iconic television ad which first aired in 1971 but continued for a number of years after, just as Generation X was growing up. The iconic native American crying ad (incidentally, the book disclosed that the actor wasn't native American, but Italian-American) can be seen below, or by visiting http://youtu.be/9Dmtkxm9yQY:
The Ad Council was the creative force behind these iconic public service advertising (PSA) campaigns including the crying native American as well as versions of Smokey the Bear and others. And while the Ad Council's creativity was behind the ads, the organization which based in New York City, began as part of the war effort in the 1940's. But the actual organization which paid to run the ads was an organization that called itself Keep America Beautiful, which sounds innocent enough, but isn't your grassroots Sierra Club. In reality, it is/was a a pseudo-charity funded by the packaged good manufacturers in this country. In other words, companies like McDonald's, Pepsi-Cola, Coca-Cola, Reynolds Aluminium, Nestle Waters, the American Chemistry Council — these are the companies who produce both the chemicals and the packaging material that ends up in our waste stream and in our garbage stream, and they were the ones lecturing us to pick up our waste to keep America Beautiful. If only the ads weren't funded by the companies that created all that waste!
Book by Wendy Melillo
Wendy Melillo, an assistant professor of communications at American University is the author of a new (as of September 2013) book entitled "How McGruff and the Crying Indian Changed America: A History of Iconic Ad Council Campaigns", is interviewed by NPR about these campaigns and the organizations behind these iconic campaigns. The interview which can be listened to below (or by visiting http://n.pr/1bMejQk) is fascinating.
I think its important to acknowledge that Ms. Melillo isn't trying to discredit the Ad Council's work. Indeed, she claims it is a "premier organization we have in this country for public service advertising. And it does a lot of good." She says her goal with this book is to take a look at the business model, and to recognize that there are some limitations. She says society can work together to determine how we can improve that to make it even better, but she clearly thinks that one of the keys is making sure people know what the current business model's limitations actually are.
With the Academy Awards this weekend, once again, much of Americans' attention will be focused on watching the Hollywood entertainment business (few industries celebrate themselves as much as the movie biz, with countless awards shows including the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, Screen Actor's Gild, People's Choice ... and that's just for movies. There are also awards for music and television [since I'm more likely to have seen some television, I do watch the Emmy's in September]) celebrate itself. I will go on record as saying not everyone loves the non-stop parade of indulgent narcissism and red carpet B.S., but given that TV is struggling to find programming that draws large audiences that were once commonplace among the major TV networks, this type of event programming is unlikely to disappear anytime soon).
Evidently, Kraft Foods will be shelling out a few million dollars to reboot a condiment classic: Grey Poupon mustard. Apparently, mustard sales aren't what they used to be. Consumers today are seeking bolder flavors like poblano hot pepper sauce. Of course, the fact that many people try to avoid carbs has also meant that many also avoid traditional sandwiches where mustard was a common flavor enhancer. American Public Media's Marketplace covered that story, which can be listened to below, or by visiting http://bit.ly/ZxnyOZ:
Obviously, Baby Boomers and Gen Xers who remember the original limo riding snobs in the commercial from the 1980s are the main target audience, but the reboot adds a James Bond-esque twist in hopes of encouraging a younger audience to taste the finer things in life, such as Grey Poupon Dijon mustard. Catch the following video preview (it appears after some commentary) below which is slated to air during the Oscars on Sunday, or by visiting https://youtu.be/ovTtE46pc28:
Anyway, that's really just a retro diversion. Now, down to business.
Traditionally, Hollywood has thrown its older actors/actresses aside as if they were trash, except with the rare exception of a small handful of roles that came up every so often (one film that comes to mind is 1981's "On Golden Pond" which co-starred screen legends Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn, both of whom walked away with Academy Awards that year, as did Ernest Thompson for his screen play) plus Jane Fonda, Dabney Coleman, and Doug McKeon.
Although youth is undoubtedly a huge factor behind the film industry's bottom line, many movies aimed at the youth audience have become formulaic and predictable. How many sequels to the same vampire story are really necessary? We can't blame the audience for that, its the film industry which has become less tolerant of taking risks by pursuing what are viewed as guaranteed payouts rather than by taking creative risks. As for the film stars, there will always be a crowd of good-looking young actors and actresses waiting in the wings to become the next big thing. That's been true as long as mass entertainment has existed.
However, one thing that has changed is that the older audience today is simply much too big to ignore completely. That wasn't always the case, but with 10,000 Baby Boomers retiring every day for the next 18 years, today, this group can generate some serious money for movie studios that target them with the right content.
On Thursday, February 21, 2013, NPR's "All Things Considered" program featured an interesting story entitled "Baby Boomers Return To The Multiplex, And Hollywood Notices" which documents just how the big entertainment industry is evolving with an evolving American demographic profile. It discusses one of the more low-key events of the season: the AARP's "Movies for Grownups". That program can be listened to below, or by visting http://n.pr/YehCaI:
To be sure, it's possible that at least one of the "Movies for Grownups" could walk away with an Oscar this year, but the same genre has become far more relevant for millions of consumers than it was when the organization first began it back in 2001. What's more, there's more content to fill the article in 2013 than there was when the feature began, and it seems there will be for the foreseeable future.
European filmmakers have always tacked difficult content pretty bravely, and so too is the case with one nominee aimed at the gray-haired set: "Amour" which looks at a devoted, long-married couple - both music teachers - and what they go through together when the wife has a stroke and begins a painful, irreversible decline. It's an Austrian film set in France, and has already won awards at the Cannes Film Festival, the British Academy of Film and Television Awards and various critics organizations. While the subject matter is tough, it deserves to be told. This film has Oscar nominations for best picture, best director, best screenplay and best foreign film. And, the media reports that film is also now playing on 600 screens across the U.S., which is pretty good for a non-English language film, where Americans don't deal with subtitles and/or dubbing especially well given how uncommon that is.
However, now that Hollywood has noticed the geriatric set, we're likely to see more movies targeting this large and growing demographic universe.
Although today's post is more about movies, television still has a way to go, but it's gotten better in recent years. When Susan Harris created "The Golden Girls" back in the 1980's (catch a related post at http://goo.gl/aZkMS), almost no one had really tackled the subject of senior citizens in a sitcom. These days, the main surviving cast member of that particular show, Betty White, who has been on television longer than almost anyone, stars in TV Land's original sitcom "Hot in Cleveland" and the show has done very well for the cable network. Last January, TV Land renewed "Hot In Cleveland" for a fourth season.
However, as we saw when Larry Hagman passed away late last year, the screen writers worked to incorporate his real-life death into the TBS reboot of "Dallas" this season (catch my post on the "Dallas" reboot at http://goo.gl/JSzlD). No doubt, the same thought has crossed the minds for "Hot In Cleveland's" writers as to what they would do should something happen to Betty White, who just celebrated her 91st birthday with a show on NBC television.
In the end, although award shows are basically about an industry celebrating itself and force-feeding it on everyone else, the new demographic reality of an aging population may finally be changing the entertainment business in a way that better reflects the profile of American audiences. That's something which deserves an Academy award!
In my inaugural post for "Harvest Gold Memories" (see http://goo.gl/xc3S4 for that), I observed that Generation X ("Gen X") had officially reached middle-age, with several commercials clearly aimed at us as a group. Having said that, I would much rather be middle-aged than in my twenties. It's what comes next that's scary (although retirement should be great)!
Time in the Spotlight Is Bittersweet
Still, for Gen X, our moment in the spotlight is seen as long overdue, but is also bitter-sweet.
Time's Gen X Cover Story, July 16, 1990
For Gen X's entire existence, we've lived in the shadows of the enormous Baby Boom, and we were force-fed their experiences via pop-culture, music and politics. Advertisers conveniently ignored us, although few of us felt very bad about that. When we came of age in the early 1990s, we finally got a brief moment in the spotlight (check out the July 16, 1990 issue of Time magazine by visiting http://ti.me/5gQ3tM), and our music dominated the airwaves. But that wouldn't last very long, and nowadays, "the airwaves" isn't even the only place where music can emerge as successful. The world has changed, which is great, although I've lamented about the loss of a collective pop culture experience with television (see http://goo.gl/l4Z85), for example, although we see signs of that re-emerging now with social media (notably via Twitter) enabling that experience to be shared in a new way.
Having said that, as the Baby Boom heads off into the sunset, they no longer dominate sales for many consumer products categories, hence advertisers could no longer concern themselves exclusively with what Baby Boomers wanted. A prime example: baby products like diapers aren't pitched to grandparents (Depends, maybe, but not Pampers, Luvs and Huggies). However, these days, advertising clearly aimed at Gen X with music we may recall from our youths is now widespread.
Companies ranging from Mazda to Procter & Gamble to Visa (indeed, Gen X has surpassed Baby Boomers on credit card usage according to researchers, see http://bit.se/V6dUmr for details) have their sights on Gen X until they're prepared to move on to Millennials.
In the story, they interview Michael Accavetti, who is a vice president at Honda. Honda claims to have researched Gen X. He says:
"I mean this is a generation that is really first to have worked to live rather live to work, and they don't take themselves so seriously all the time and they appreciate brands who recognize that and recognize their lifestyle and sensibilities and have that same type of attitude like Honda."
A Honda commercial featuring Matthew Broderick reprising is role as Ferris Bueller, albeit the über-long version which runs for well over 2 minutes (which is unlikely ever to air on TV), can be viewed below, or by visiting https://youtu.be/4kaG95ZIjHQ:
While Gen X may be at the top of the advertising food-chain for the moment, none of us is naïve enough to presume we'll be there for long. After all, there are more Millennials than Baby Boomers, and they're right behind us. However, in some ways, Gen X has more similarities with Millennials than we do with Baby Boomers. For example, having started social media giants like Facebook and Twitter, Gen X knows these things as well as Millennials do. And, we are just as likely to have smartphones as Millennials (indeed, we're the ones that started dumping landlines seeing them as duplicative), although we may need our reading glasses to see the tiny screens!
In early October 2012, Japanese auto giant Nissan announced plans to resurrect a brand it stopped selling nearly 30 years ago: Datsun.
Baby Boomers and Gen Xers may remember the Datsun brand because the "Nissan" brand didn't even exist in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand or elsewhere until the early 1980s. Officially, the decision to change the name Datsun to Nissan in the U.S. was announced in the autumn of 1981. The rationale was that the name change would "help the company pursue a global strategy", and the Nissan brand was a key component of that strategy. Datsun was rebranded to Nissan (at considerable expense to the company) in many markets in spite of having already built considerable brand equity in the "Datsun" brand over the years.
The name change campaign actually lasted for several years between 1982 to 1984, and was quite costly for the company. Among the costs incurred were changing the signs at over 1,100 Datsun dealerships to Nissan, as well as a costly ad campaign to introduce the Nissan brand to American consumers, and an awkward period where both the Nissan and Datsun logos appeared on automobiles (at one point, cars had logos with "Datsun by Nissan", part of the effort to familiarize American consumers with the "new" Nissan brand name (in fact, Nissan was always the company's name in Japan).
Below is a 1979 television commercial for what was arguably one the company's last campaigns for the Datsun brand in the United States (alternatively, it can be seen at http://youtu.be/5YuV1hHzISI).
Why reboot a brand that has been part of the history books for 30 years?
The Datsun brand is being reintroduced in hopes of attracting "aspirational customers" in high-growth, emerging markets.
The company CEO Carlos Ghosn claimed it will rely on Datsun's reputation for small, sporty, inexpensive cars to attract young consumers in the world's developing economies. The Wall Street Journal reported (see the article at http://on.wsj.com/Ul9aqt, note that a Wall Street Journal online subscription may be required to access the article) that "Datsun is scheduled to hit the road in India, Indonesia and Russia in 2014."
But Mr. Ghosn said he wanted to announce the long-rumored revival in Indonesia to underline the growing importance of the Southeast Asian market." Consumers in the announced markets can expect Datsuns to be a decidedly bare-bones vehicle compared to what U.S. and Japanese consumers buy, but a car that's intended to compete with low-cost automakers such as China's Chery Automobile or India's Tata Motors, which are now exporting their own low-cost vehicles to many developing markets around the world. Those car brands actually look kind of like the 1979 Datsun in the commercial above did!
Nissan believes that it, as a global automaker, can effectively compete in this rapidly-growing segment of the automobile market. The company plans to sell Datsuns for around $5,000, which is less than half the price of Nissan's least-expensive vehicles sold in the U.S. However, the company's much-vaunted quality could actually put the Chinese brands at a very big competitive disadvantage.
Don't expect to see any new Datsuns in the U.S. anytime soon.
To sell a car for prices that low, many of the standard features that are required (such as airbags) will not be included in the new Datsuns, and the cut-rate priced cars wouldn't be allowed in the U.S. because the cars couldn't pass U.S. safety, emissions or fuel-efficiency requirements. But, the next time you visit India, Indonesia or Russia in 2014, you might just see Datsuns in those markets.
Time magazine suggests Americans may soon see some ultra-cheap cars in the U.S., even if they aren't Datsuns (see that article by visiting http://ti.me/TBByC6), writing "Within three years, though, we may finally get to see whether American drivers will be interested in a 'luxury' version of the bare-bones [Tata] car". However, the outlook for success remains unclear. Who remembers the Yugo?!
Author P.S., October 20, 2014: Businessweek reports (see http://buswk.co/1vKjtoU) Datsun's second life, in India, isn't doing very well. Apparently, low prices alone aren't sufficient for success even in the developing world.
In the early 1970s, a Madison Avenue ad exec named David McCall was frustrated by the fact that his then 11 year-old son was having trouble memorizing his multiplication tables, yet happened to know all the words to almost every rock song on the radio. To McCall, the solution seemed obvious: why not combine pop music with the info. kids needed to learn?
The rest, as they say, is TV — and educational — history.
The result was "Schoolhouse Rock" (a.k.a. "SHR") which aired on ABC from late 1973 to 1985. Beyond catchy music, another key to the success was repetition (sometimes annoyingly so), which was (not surprisingly) also the mantra for advertising success at the time. In fact, these three-minute educational vignettes (there were a total of 41 segments in all, at least initially) ran, according to some accounts, as frequently as 7 times every weekend (and, let me add, that "weekends" consisted only of Saturday mornings)!
This series of three-minute educational vignettes combined animation, music, and catchy lyrics to tackle lessons in American history, the rules of grammar, multiplication tables, science, government, and finance. As The Randino wrote (see HERE and HERE):
"Its toe-tapping lyrics entered a generation's lexicon and, four Emmy Awards later, its melodies are still a pop-culture frame of reference common to an astounding number" of Generation Xers.
Disney acquired the rights to the series (although truth be told, the TV exec responsible for producing series was a guy named Michael Eisner, who would later go on to become CEO of The Walt Disney Company, and the company bought the rights to the series under Eisner's leadership) a number of years ago, and has since put the entire series on DVD (as well as streaming video) for a new, digital generation.
SHR For A New, Digital Generation
I bought the DVD series for my niece Sasha a few years ago, and she did watch and even enjoyed the programs. Like most of us did as kids in the '70s, she didn't even realize it was "educational" programming, and the fact that the cartoons were something she wasn't already seeing on TV made them completely novel - and even compelling to watch. The fact that it's animated gives them something of a timeless nature not found in some other television programs, and the commercial-like length (just 3 minutes each) of these things makes them an appropriate length even for kids with short attention spans, because they can watch a clip without investing too much time or commitment.
Now, I will say that the only way I learned the preamble to the U.S. Constitution was via Schoolhouse Rock, although I sometimes wish there was something like another clip covering Amendments to the Constitution (granted, it's a moving target, but memorizing that stuff is terribly boring). Nowadays, kids can simply Google that stuff, but there's something to be said for knowing it.
MadTV's Public Schoolhouse Rock: A Rockin' Parody!
Several years ago, the TV show MadTV did a really funny parody of SHR they called "Public Schoolhouse Rock" which used the same music with lyrics meant to suggest what was going on in U.S. public schools. It was really, really funny IMHO. Have a look and see if you agree! First, the original:
ABC tried to resurrect the series in September 1992, and even commissioned a couple of new Grammar Rock segments as well as 8 new "Money Rock" segments. However, ABC (now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Disney) stopped airing them around 1999. Given that the way the world watches television these days has completely changed (catch my post on that HERE for more background), I think the key to success nowadays might be trying to plug them into something like Boomerang or Cartoon Network, rather than on ABC. After all, today, kids might not even realize that ABC exists (in spite of ABC being owned by Disney), yet Boomerang (which itself is a spinoff from Cartoon Network) is something they might be familiar with. Of course, DVD is even better, and has the added benefit of no commercials.
But Disney has proven to have a pretty short attention span on some of the things in its own massive library anyway, and one need look no further than The Muppets franchise as proof (I'll cover the Muppets in a separate post). Disney did absolutely nothing with that character franchise until actor and Muppet fan Jason Segal was able to help the company (almost single-handedly) resurrect the Muppet franchise. Since the success of that film (and the failure of another film called "John Carter"), Disney has committed to doing another Muppet movie. My guess would be that sometimes, it takes someone to really take ownership of these elements, or the corporate parents are likely let them stay in the Disney Vault permanently!
Disney Educational Productions' YouTube channel has several of the original Schoolhouse Rock videos available online for free, and because Disney is the channel owner, there is little risk of being purged for copyright violation. Visit https://www.youtube.com/user/DisneyEducation to have a look.
Now, if I could just get the damn song for "Interplanet Janet" out of my own mental vault, I might be fine! http://abc.tv/2enLHUu
Author P.S., January 6, 2013: NPR is reporting that "Schoolhouse Rock" just turned 40! Visit that story at http://n.pr/VGdDCO.
Writer, speaker, brother, son, friend, spouse, advocate for people with autoimmune (type 1) diabetes, thinker, dreamer. Reading and writing is becoming a lost art, but we can learn a lot from reading the medical and scientific literature before drawing conclusions. The press publishes abbreviated facts to fit into limited space, I don't mince words or omit facts.
