Life enrichment opportunity for all!

Who likes advertising? Check YouTube and there are heaps of post of videos of old 'classic' and new ads from telly past and current.




















Remember the Martians and their amazement at mashed potato? The 'secret lemonade drinker' ? Did you ever P-P-Pick up a Penguin?" "






















Having your mind and memory colonised by barkers pitches to buy this that and the other is all too common. One of my favourite bands of there and then - Snuff - even used them in their set. Their version of the 'Bran flakes' advert probably reinforced the product awareness, but almost certainly only encouraged people to buy their records and see them play. I think there's some irony going on there, subverting the media message or some such thing. All I know is I just have memories of yelling out the words, whilst bouncing around the music.

I came across a site with some old radio clips , from the late 50's and 60's. American radio, where the ad's are almost comical in their unique ham it up fashion. If you've listened to the 'The Firesign Theatre' group's records you'll see its already been cheesed up and used as comedy material for quite some time.

What prompted this blog?

I was just searching for something or other and came across this....

Informative Advertising with Differentiated Products, by Gene M. Grossman and Carl Shapiro © 1984 The Review of Economic Studies Ltd.

Abstract

In this paper we study the role of promotional expenditures by sellers in a model of product differentiation. Advertising conveys full and accurate information about the characteristics of products. Heterogeneous consumers, who have no source of information other than advertisements, seek to purchase the products that best fit their needs. Despite the roles played by advertising in improving the matching of products and consumers, and in increasing the elasticity of demand faced by each firm, we find that the market-determined levels of advertising are excessive, given the extent of diversity in the market. We derive a promotional equilibrium based on a specific information transmission technology, paying explicit attention to the structure of consumer information and its impact on firms' demand curves. This allows us to study the effects of changes in the advertising technology, including an increased ability to target messages to specific groups of consumers, on the equilibrium in the product market. We find that decreased advertising costs may reduce profits by increasing the severity of price competition.

I think they are serious....they certainly mean business!




....after reading that, I need some Firesign to bring me out of the maze...the adventures of Nick Danger!

..simple...

ch-ch-ch-changes....

"I need my sleep, man. You know what I mean? I need about 8 hours a day... And about 10 at night and I'm good, I am, I'm good..." Bill Hicks

so, along with a moral outrage at the world and a love of the truth in humour I have something else in common with Mr Hicks.....

sleep is something that you may take for granted, except for the insomniacs amongst you of course...

apparently when I sleep, I wake up approximately 47 times an hour, thats wake up, fall asleep, wake up, fall asleep....you get the idea...that's tiring!

now I get to look like a 1950's alien experiment

though sometimes it feels more like....

come the morning.....

its something called

sleep apnoea

overweight? heavy drinker? smoke too much? yeah and no, cos you can be like this and be none of these. So I snore a lot...poor Denise.....and when I'm awake, I'm not really cos I'll be nodding off, my head on the keyboard whilst in a dream state thinking I'm perfectly fine. Some people pay good money for drugs to do that, but it's a nuisance when you're standing up fine and then - like a switch is pulled - you drop to the floor. No warning, no time to go 'oh goodness me, I'm falling down' and such like...


I now use a CPAP machine...lovely name, that.

continuous positive airway pressure it means....

A continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine was initially used mainly by patients for the treatment of sleep apnea at home, but now is in widespread use across intensive care units as a form of ventilation. Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when the upper airway becomes narrow as the muscles relax naturally during sleep. This reduces oxygen in the blood and causes arousal from sleep. The CPAP machine stops this phenomenon by delivering a stream of compressed air via a hose to a nasal pillow, nose mask or full-face mask, splinting the airway (keeping it open under air pressure) so that unobstructed breathing becomes possible, reducing and/or preventing apneas and hypopneas. It is important to understand, however, that it is the air pressure, and not the movement of the air, that prevents the apneas. When the machine is turned on, but prior to the mask being placed on the head, a flow of air comes through the mask. After the mask is placed on the head, it is sealed to the face and the air stops flowing. At this point, it is only the air pressure that accomplishes the desired result. This has the additional benefit of reducing or eliminating the extremely loud snoring that sometimes accompanies sleep apnea.

at last, Denise gets some peace :D

the last few months have been ...different. I collapsed at work back in November and was sent home till I 'had got it sorted'....back at work now these last two weeks and things are very different....I love the novelty of being awake in the daytime :D