AV Geeks Lunch 03 11 2022

hi everybody i'm skip alzheimer and welcome to the av geeks lunchtime streaming show where it's not lunch it's actually um the night before lunch and um i'm pre-recording this show well don't touch the laptop screen because it becomes like a jello um pre-recording the show because i'm attending a five-year-old birthday party today uh right during uh the show so uh i've got some great stuff to watch uh the first film we're gonna watch is it's part of a series we showed uh consumer power credit um i want to say two weeks ago uh it features our good friend ralph nader this one's another one in the series and it's called consumer power advertising and it's pretty great i love these early 70s films that tried to educate us to be critical and aware of how we as consumers can be preyed upon so enjoy bread [Music] seems i got hung up with a few more necessaries instead [Music] well i guess that's kind of funny i better see if i got the money sometimes you know i wonder what's going on in my head senator phillip hart made an estimate that in 1969 out of the 780 billion dollars uh spent by consumers 200 billion dollars received no value [Music] i've got consumed [Music] i can say yes i like it i can say no [Music] manufacturers came into being into a competitive environment wanted to increase and enlarge the volume of the sales of their products and so they looked around and they said why don't we communicate with the people in large volume about our product and try to do it persuasively so they called in or created advertising advertising didn't create the present business system the present business system really created advertising or caused it to come and be i think it's important that we do make that distinction businessmen will admit that they make between people's needs and people's wants and the function of advertising for most products is to create wants create a desire for wants beyond people's elementary needs such as basic foodstuffs i think it's highly possible that advertising encourages people to consume more than they actually need for survival i don't think there's any question about that but i i'm not sure that all by itself is indeed a bad thing advertising does encourage people to learn about new products that they never thought they would need and to consider how nice it would be to own them in order to own them you have to have the money to to own them to buy them so you go out and get a job the best job you know how so that you can actually own and enjoy certain things that you couldn't if you didn't do that and so when you do that you increase the level of purchasing power on the part of everyone you actually buy the colored television set and everybody working for a color television set manufacturer benefits by the fact that a greater number of people have decided to buy there is a kind of circulation set in motion there's no question in my mind that advertising stimulates and that's really what it's all about but i don't think that's all that bad to want more to work for more and to have a better standard of living as a result is not that much of a subject i think for just ricky for example uh when they're really not selling the product they're selling sexual attractiveness uh such as a toothpaste ads they're selling uh career advancement such as if you don't use a proper what mouthwash you might not get promoted in your job you might turn off your superiors actually i feel that a heavy percentage of people are really not against advertising per se although they speak as if they are but rather are they against advertising which is unattractive boring or in bad taste or obviously misleading uh just watch some of the television ads watch the techniques that are used you know like the pain relievers and and uh the the pills going down the this silhouette of of a person into the person's stomach or you see statements as most doctors agree or most doctors use or a famous hospital study shows a certain diet pill or diet to wafer reduces so many pounds uh per week and then they have these sort of graphs and and the and the statistics to back it up uh but when you try to write to these companies or to these advertising agencies and ask them in effect to prove or submit the tests and the data and to name the hospital study and name what doctors were polled then the answers are well that's proprietary information it's confidential or it's none of the consumer's business or we just give this information when the government requests it or you should rely on the truth of our statements as we give them it is illegal to mislead today the process by which that is nailed is laborious perhaps but it is illegal uh to deceive or mislead in advertisement the main federal agency is supposed to deal with deceptive advertising is the federal trade commission which was established in 1914 it has not been effective for a number of reasons too much political interference uh not sufficiently competent personnel and inadequate authority for example there have been occasions where the federal trade commission will go after uh a nationwide company that is deceiving consumers and it'll take 15 or 20 years before the case is finished in the courts and then when it is finished the the only thing the federal trade commission can do is to issue a cease and desist order which is in effect saying to the company uh go and send no more you've got to stop deceiving the public in this way and selling your product or service but you don't have to return your profits that you unjustly took over the past 10 or 15 years all you have to do is simply stop what you're doing this allows the company simply to design a new advertising or promotion scheme and the whole ball game starts all over again many advertisers say if an advertisement works that is if it sells the product then it must be okay well i don't think that's a satisfactory explanation at all and i'd like to take an example that relates particularly to teenagers that is there their exploitation by the cosmetic companies and now it includes boys as well as girls notice the the the transition here they know that boys and girls have a peculiar concern about sense of smell emanating from their bodies so they begin creating uh names for these smells like bad breath as halitosis and they exploit that concern and and in effect associated with the loss of social life with a repudiation by other students of the individual that's the subject of the ad or a loss of employment opportunity these are very powerful appeals and then the ad goes on to take a simple human concern transform into a neurosis and then take the neurosis and transform it into psychosis until these uh teenagers are are so psyched up in concern and fear that hours of their days and days of their months throughout the year are taken up with a concern about their appearance and the almost over delicate sensitivity to natural human conditions and this is done in order to drive concern and fear and fright to drive these teenagers into purchasing hundreds of millions of dollars of these cosmetic products who don't even fulfill the purposes for which they're advertised very often [Music] well i washed all the unsightly dandruff off my head and shaving after shaved my face [Music] and then i naturally non greasely non-alcoholic lean on sticker lead my hair into place and unscented to death anything offensive under either arm and gargled my mouth bacteria frieza my breath won't do no harm and i'm whiter than white and brighter than bright and i can take on any rat miseries most mouthwashes are fraud most cosmetics themselves are fraud most toothpastes are fraud in terms of the promotions and the claims that are made for them and i think this is increasing from year to year because too many teenagers simply don't look at these ads look at the appeals see how they're exploited and in effect take control of the situation so that they are in charge rather than the companies to suggest that advertising really has some hypnotic hold on people and caused them like robots to do things that are over and above and beyond their control is to seem to meet once again to be a cop out on the part of the consumer economists have have shown that many consumer industries such as detergents or or car manufacturers or cosmetic manufacturers or patent medicine manufacturers are basically selling pretty much the same product only with different brand names and the appeals are different like toothpaste appeals are usually either sexual uh appeals or appeals uh to counteract cavities uh car appeals for example he puts it a sporty set appeal to the uh the station wagon family set uh they appealed to the economy set and in many ways the products are produced by companies who compete more and more about less and less of any significance to the consumer well i went out to buy myself a brand new car and the dealer man showed me this fastback wide track detroit shooting star says takes powerful man to drive this car though because it's got power antenna and power lights and power seats power windows and power air and power heat and a stripe down the side a foot wide i figured i could handle it i've had it now for a little while i treat it just like a month old child i have to when the front end squeaks the rear end leaks and so instead of the difference being quality price warranty effectiveness ease of maintenance or repair the differences are the exciting names of the products the the advertising slogans the box tops the the games of chance are associated with the trading stamps and the like and this is a very very deteriorating impact on the quality of competition when you see this and then they they cease paying attention to these qualities or these price competitions and begin in excelling emotion uh and other uh visceral appeals i think good advertising appeals both to the emotional and the rational side recognizing really that we're some of each i think advertising that doesn't stick to facts and doesn't stick to reasonable logic is capping out on its responsibility but advertising which ignores the emotional makeup of people will have a tendency to be less fresh less imaginative less interesting less tasteful there are certain techniques that are used to persuade through advertising which any consumer can become alert to one is the comparison for example a tire is advertised as stopping 25 quicker uh or a particular pain reliever as being twice as effective as another pain reliever that isn't mentioned or that toothpaste makes the teeth whiter or brighter or that a detergent makes the pillowcases cleaner or whiter these are examples of comparisons that have no meaning because unless the comparison refers to something specific like another product and is willing to back up the comparison with the test data then these are called dangling comparatives and they're basically empty of content for example there's a dog food that's advertised as being preferred by six out of seven dogs uh compared to the other leading brand the other leading brand isn't mentioned in the ad or the tire that i just mentioned which is supposed to stop 25 quicker quicker than what a donut or quicker than another tire which tire on what kind of pavement at what speed at what tread depth and so these are the kinds of things that consumers can be alert to in order to sweep aside these kinds of empty or fraudulent appeals and begin asking the tough questions and the tough questions are what is the real price the product and how does it compare with another product of like quantity or quality what are the characteristics of the product is the food nutritious if so in what way is the food adulterated with water or fat or chemical additives are they labeled is there enough disclosure about what the product can do and can't do if there isn't enough disclosure at the point of sale like on a package can the consumer write to the manufacturer and get this information to protect himself it seems to me a consumer has to realize that he does have a role in the dynamics in the mechanics of purchase that he does have and must exercise a responsibility to himself just as we i think should impose more and more responsibilities on advertising and marketing the consumer should know that he has a role that he should be alert he should read and compare compare the information about two products and not just as i said before sort of yield and feel that he doesn't have a role in it he should observe he should compare and he should note product differences and act on them and i think he'll make advertising he'll put advertising and marketing and manufacturing more on its toes [Music] well i seem to have fallen on economic hard times and i'm keeping an eye on the nickels and dimes and being a little more careful about what it is i'm buying this time now let's see now this one here is fortified and ionized with magic simulated u235 that sounds pretty good now but this one's been vitamin freeze dried and i wonder if that's any better and this one here says it's been emulsified with hydrogenated herbicides and contains genuine hexachlorophene and i don't know if that's good or bad or what i'm gonna write a letter to my president my congressman i'm gonna look it up in the dictionary [Music] the consumer's first threshold of protection uh is basically his own intelligence his own common sense his own refusal to be bamboozled or conned or fooled uh in the stores where these products and services are offered or through the ads where these products and services are offered if you don't like a product if you think a product is being unfair or inaccurate and it's or tasteless vote against it don't buy it tell your friends not to buy it write letters independent action is much stronger than you begin could even begin to realize the basic underlying current of this whole problem is simply give people the truth give them honest explanations give them honest descriptions appeal to their rationality make it entertaining if you will but at least try to cultivate a more critical a more perceptive consumer who will then generate the forces from the marketplace to create a higher quality innovation allow smaller businessmen to have an opportunity to compete allow inventors and innovators to bring in the new systems and the new uh products that will improve safety and health and improve the bargain uh level of products and services sold in the marketplace what i'd like to see is for advertising to play a growing role and i think this is beginning to happen in more positive aspect more positively in certain aspects of our culture for advertising to educate people about what they can do about ecology about government and about sanitation and about human problems if advertising indeed can communicate and persuade seems to me that's a a good place for us to work and there's a growing body of people in the advertising business who are getting tuned into this and beginning to use some of their skills for some of these other purposes and i think it's a very healthy movement i've got consumed power i've got consumed my power i can't say yes i like it i can say no won't buy it consumer power consumer power [Music] this simple study that we conducted last year which which uh listed the specific claims made on behalf of various products and services and uh copied these claims down and sent them to the presidents the company selling these goods and services and asked the companies to substantiate these ads with tests and other evidence can be done by anybody it can be done by students as part of courses in home economics or in economics or in advertising uh it can be done by housewives it can be done by anybody who has enough time and interest simply to look at the ads or read the ads or listen to the ads and make these kinds of inquiries to the presidents of these companies now even if the replies from these companies aren't satisfactory it's a tremendous self-educational uh device to make you more alert make you more capable spotting the the psychological techniques and the the polished phrases and the other clever gimmicks that that override the consumer's rationality level and probe deep into the emotional uh and status psychology which the ad is aimed at in order to promote these purchases [Music] i've got consumer power you've got consumer power we can say yes it's worth the money we can say no sir you're trying to call me consumer consumer power [Music] yeah that was great um i love ralph um when he ran for president i was kind of iffy about it but um i think in hindsight i still kind of liked him um the next one we're going to watch is made by the eems charles and ray eames uh were known for designing furniture mid-century furniture they had a furniture company but they also did graphic design works and actually made films probably the most popular one that they made was powers of ten but they made other ones too and this next one is a takata for toy trains enjoy [Music] [Music] hahaha [Music] this is a film about toy trains these are real toys not scale models that doesn't mean that toys are good and scale models are bad but they are different most of the trains we have used are old and some are quite old the reason for this is perhaps that in the more recent years we seem to have lost the knack of making real toys most old ones have a direct and unembarrassed manner that give us a special kind of pleasure a pleasure different from the admiration we may feel for the perfect little copy of the real thing in a good old toy there is apt to be nothing self-conscious about the use of materials what is wood is wood what is tin is tin what is cast is beautifully cast it is possible that somewhere in all this is a clue to what sets the creative climate of any time including our own anyway let's take a close look at some real toy trains [Music] me [Music] do [Music] do [Music] [Applause] foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey you [Music] me [Music] so [Music] so huh [Applause] so so [Music] uh foreign [Applause] you [Applause] um um [Music] huh [Music] oh bye [Music] foreign [Music] hmm foreign do [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] so yeah that was that was pretty awesome there's another one that they did for tops that i have and maybe we'll watch that again in the future we'll watch that in a future episode okay so it's friday and uh i seem to have fallen into a routine of showing you either uh tv uh trailers for feature films from the 70s or commercials from the 70s and i figured why not let's just keep going with it all these films are ones that we digitized for duke university's ad views project uh many years ago i would say probably 14 years ago um and they're awesome and so we watched some for vixx vaporub um i've done shows where i showed a bunch of the sugar bear commercials well today it's the company is hasbro hasbro who now seems to be one of the companies that owns all the toys that you loved as a kid they've basically become the disney of toys um and so i've amassed a bunch of commercials here i tried to pull out the duplicates but there might be one or two that are in there so please bear with me it's it'll be just like saturday morning where you see the same commercial a couple of times in a viewing of a show so you should be used to that um if you had some of these toys as a kid i'd love to read the comments i might not be able to monitor them as they're going live but i would love to read them and i have quite a few comments myself and i might talk about a couple of them uh afterwards so enjoy here's a penny penny for your gumbo freddy thanks for the gumball pity for the gumball paper gumball banks with new sugarless gumballs you can get refills to fill up mickey mouse popeye fred flintstone as the gumballs go down the pennies go up what are you gonna do with all your pennies papaya fireworks yeah me too mickey mouse popeye and fred flinstone gumball banks with sugarless gumballs refills sold separately [Music] [Music] he's going to ride his ice cream truck [Music] snoopy's doghouse comes with snoopy and woodstock new from robber room [Music] is [Music] right up and down and up and down on the inchworm from romper room we'll find an adventure just follow your nose [Music] sherlock a dog you can ride from romper room [Music] [Music] room the rapper room talking telephone really talks can you sing a song for me that's been a force be a buyer jelly won't you please speak louder i don't say anything at all you come over and play yes phil i have to bring the children hello what are you doing now waiting for the wind happy jack clown talking telephone from rapper room the thing about mr magnet man is that before you know it is mr magnum stage mr magnet muchachos monkey face a crazy duck or mr magnet mouse or move a few magnets and there's mrs magnet mommy or mr magnet monster or even mr magnet mr magnet man from romper room i'm gonna make mine on circles around yours amazomatics the car with the brain the car you program yourself to go where you want do what you want yours is going around the table it's for them to come out again amazomatics chevrolet astrovent buick sentry cruiser chrysler charger and ford mark iv amazomatics from hasbro hey pop-up rubber the scenery world of the flintstones rubber fred and barney they're animals and neighbors just like magic then make them stand up anywhere you want them hi friends you ever never know there's a bozo set a pop-up rub on [Music] from hasbro two new mr potato head toys donald stop follow the clowns each with mr potato head take all the parts and put them together where did the houses go where noses belong forget photos donald's almost donald trump [Music] mr potato head where's your other ear it's over here mr potato head toys from hasbro is a penny mickey mouse for the gumball champion for a penny puzzle thanks for the gumball ready for the gumball popeye thanks for the cover gumball banks get gumball refills and fill up mickey mouse popeye or bozo see the gumballs go down watch the pennies go up what are you gonna do with all your pennies popeye gumball banks from hasbro here comes amazomatics the car with the brain now make a mustang special dune buggy stingray special or volkswagen bug by customizing your present amazomatics each customizing kit contains a new wild body groovy decorations slick tires mag wheels feed in new program cards or make your own and watch it perform you can even get a chassis separate and customize it with amazomatics customizing kits from hasbro the romper room talkabout has pictures that talk and talk and talk and talk and numbers and circuses and boats giant ocean liner and planes early flying men built wings and farms [Music] talk about from romper room [Music] while an anxious world waits gi joe astronaut prepares to walk in space only one man is completely confident gi joe himself all systems are gold just keep that tether free it looks good wait the tether is loose is gi joe lost find out in the space walk mystery one of the gi joe astronaut adventure sets gi joe now with life black hair from hasbro introducing the gi joe space-o-matic space-o-matic the futuristic space vehicle you program yourself to make it go where you want do what you want program it to lift or to scoop or use the magnetic pickup what's this wait hello joe gi joe spaceomatic from hasbro that's the wacky wheel it came into my life one day as a present the wacky wheel chases me sometimes and then sometimes it goes the other way so i have to chase it the wacky mechanism makes it unpredictable yeah [Music] it almost has a mind of its own i love my wacky wheel you must believe me and no matter where it goes or what it does i'll follow it the wacky wheel from hasbro [Music] [Applause] three new potato piles mr potato bird mr potato fish and mr potato bug that's a funny potato that's a bug potato fish it's got a yellow tail i like your potato bird the wings are purple let's see them mr potato bird mr potato butt mr potato fish mr potato head in his pals this is the rugged new gi joe adventure team at dawn gi joe heads out across the desert in search of a mysterious missing mummy suddenly an earthquake no time to lose joe must get the mummy out can gi joe win his race against time find out in the secret of the mummy's tomb one of the exciting gi joe adventure team sets g.i joe now with lifelike hair from hasbro [Music] express yourself in your own way with arts and crafts today like my hat i tie-dyed it myself it was easy i got the tie-dye kip from arts and crafts today my brother's gonna tie down his shirt and i made this belt with my macro mate kit see this pom-pom rug great right i made it myself express yourself with arts and crafts today you can make a macrame belt tie-dye hat or pom-pom rug with these kits from arts and crafts today [Music] first naked [Applause] [Music] you handle the stick shift put them in [Music] stick shifters with four on the floor stick shift consoles new from hasbro these are america's favorite ball games baseball football basketball introducing screwball america's newest ball game screwball's a puzzle that's easy to take apart but hard to put together i don't think it can be done that's a little guy in the end dude he's not saying that just kept her in the super bowl it's all fouled out you don't know how to work a screw ball hey look at him he's done it screwball america's newest ball game have you ordered a ground two give me one for my mother [Music] up the ramp round and round you control the speed through the wall of fire screaming demons race them to win the daredevil challenge race set speed control ramps timer and a screaming demon air devils the planes that really fly you gotta deliver a crate mark serum you start your engine and take off from the seaside land there's the carrier deck drop her down for your final approach make a mistake and you crash perfect landing you hand it over now ready for catapult takeoff you're up and heading for home carrier rendezvous mission accomplished by the air devils power squadron air devil's carrier rendezvous adventure with aircraft carrier and a plane that flies air devils but they don't fall down put them in their car and camper you can take them all around look at them weebles wobble weevils wobble in the camper weevils wobble on the ground weevils will wobble anywhere you put them but you can't keep a weevil [Music] down car camper furniture boat bike and four weevils from romper room [Music] my baby loves your baby [Music] your baby is a line of infant play things designed by a child psychologist that has earned the good housekeeping in parents magazine seals each your baby toy is designed to coincide with [Music] legs are in and leggy's got the legs to look at leggy's got the legs to look at and you'll like to show her legs leggy with great long legs and crazy wild costumes leggy's got a dynamite look leggy's got the legs to [Music] four different dolls each with their own costume each sold separately [Music] here's maggie with today's high fashion look at me like leggy chill leggy man leggy kate leggy sue lady means high fashion with a kick laggy [Music] each with their own costume each sold separately [Music] transylvanian express black knight sold separately i see you remember the first game your baby played with you now your child can play the same delightful game as you once played with her baby peek-a-boo a new doll from hasbro that doesn't run on batteries she runs on love and a little string your child pulls whenever she wants to play peek-a-boo baby peek-a-boo she's a real charmer just like your baby was great gassers internal combustion races for you and your son they burn real fuel fuel them up start them up and tune them up till they sound just right they slip stream and pass each other at high speeds on their own bank track race your son in your own backyard [Music] the father plays with little tom then tommy takes his mother off then sister susie trims her mom in a game for power tennis susie plays with uncle jack who plays with mae from hackensack then she loses to custody zach they're here for power tennis power tennis it's new from hasbro it's a game that's fast a game that's fun a game that brings [Music] these are the robber room years [Music] we make toys like the tumbling fun house to help little children get the most out of their opera years [Music] the love that starts here will last forever these are the rules [Music] we make toys like mickey mouse's magic kingdom to help children get the most out of their romper room years [Music] your kids are growing these are the rhymer room years [Music] their little lives depend on you [Music] forever [Music] these [Music] your kids are growing these are the robber room years [Music] we make toys like weebles in the weeble's treehouse to help children get the most out of their romper room years [Music] it's good weeble and tumbling [Music] good weeble blimp and tumblin weebles each sold separately new from romper room [Music] is [Music] right up and down and up and down on the inchworm from romper room here comes marching the kid let's all shop [Music] who do we have here marching mickey mouse he's marching mickey mouse but he needs help to march just squeeze his hand and he steps right out [Music] marching mickey mouse new from romper room [Music] from an idea thousands of years old comes pyramid a game as hard to master as the pyramids themselves to win you must get five pyramids in a row and i will win today ramesses you may have the wisdom of the ages but i see your strategy and i block it my brain is vibrant whilst yours is mummified by pyramids [Music] as hard to master as the pyramids themselves which would your child think looks more like a real ship this one or a ship built with kenti the new kind of building bricks here's one of their trucks and here's one of ours and look at one of their space buggies and one of ours with tenty what your child builds looks just like what he wants it to be tinty has curved pieces and special shapes 20 21 new realistic building toys from hasbro each sold separately it's a snap to be a better builder smack it watch and wait for the dice to roll because you can hold back and wait to react but when you react smack it smack it snag it i win smack it new from hasbro you can imagine it's the beast from beyond and nothing can stop this terror [Music] he's on the move again here come stupid joe commander [Music] command laser new from hasbro super joe commander sold separately imagine playing your tar's [Music] hands hiding from tarzan you can find him in the tarzan [Music] tarzan jungle hut comes with everything you see here new from romper some assembly required have you seen the charlie's angels dolls and adventure [Music] sabrina jill and kelly they're charlie's angels and they've got clothes that let you imagine them in daring adventures by day and then turn them into glamorous outfits at night i have an assignment for charlie's angels dolls and adventure newfound hasbro dolls outfits and accessories also sold separately sabrina kelly and chris [Music] [Applause] she yes in charlie's angels beautiful clothes i love her clothes charlie's angels doll russian roulette peasantry and moonlight flight fashions each sold separately angel this is charlie i want you to pose as a fashion model charlie's angel's doll sabrina chris and kelly and fashion's each sold separately from hasbro your kids are grown these are the robber room years getting older every day [Music] we make toys like mickey mouse's magic kingdom to help children get the most out of their romper room years [Music] these are the robber room years [Music] we make toys like mr potato head to help little children get the most out of their romper room years [Music] we make toys like digger the dog to help little children get the most out of their robber room years [Music] the love that starts here will last forever [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] a weeble dog on the swing it's a carousel let me join you faster faster the robber room playground comes with swing slide seesaw carousel and four weebles your kids are gross these are the robber room years getting older every day they're learning something at ramparoom we make toys like mickey mouse's magic kingdom to help children get the most out of their opera years [Music] everywhere [Music] ride up and down and up and down on the inchworm from romper room who's the leader of the club that's made for you and me now you can have a mickey mouse clubhouse in your own home you can put on your own show i got the lights here's the camera [Music] the mickey mouse clubhouse comes with mickey mouse pluto and two musketeers some assembly required new from romper room dad how would you like me to make you something i love to play at cooking [Music] the toaster popping up and down the blender turning round and round plus you get some kool-aid to make a homemade drink that's great i just love to play at cooking with my playing mate play and make comes with kool-aid brand soft drink mix see recipe for instructions yeah some of those commercials some of the songs just make the hairs in the back of my head stick up um really really something i mean and you know these would be easy uh things for the toe tapping tournament but i have decided not to use the jingles from tv ads i want to use jingles specifically from educational films that i have so but there's some good ones in there take him the dog especially also uh the nightmare fodder that was that giant-headed mr potato head is horrifying absolutely horrifying um i hope you enjoyed watching what we showed today um if you'd like to support us one way you can do this by buying this coffee at ko dash fi.com av geeks another way is just to hit the thumbs up button like button and just say hey we like what you're doing keep doing it you can also subscribe and tell other people about it we'll be back live on monday i hope everybody has a great weekend and we'll see you soon everybody take care