Peggy reads Good Housekeeping, bless her.
If you can believe it, Good Housekeeping has some cutting edge content in the current August 2002 issue. Of course, it’s all in the ads, but what a shift it reflects:……
So what do we have here? Pages that advertise the internet embedded in your main kitchen appliance, credit card protection for online shopping, and the new mini-Discover Card that you can carry around on your keychain. They’re all selling modern convenience the same way they sell dishwasher detergent and diapers. I did a double-take when I saw the ad for the LG refrigerator because it’s the first time I’ve seen it mentioned in a mainstream magazine aimed at women, implying that it’s actually ready for prime-time and available for sale.
I think it would be interesting to go back and trace the evolution of ads for internet-based products, along with the curve for adding URLs to general ads. I think the first one I ever saw with a URL was a TV commercial for a car company, and I did a double-take then, too. Now we’ve got the internet refrigerator ad in Good Housekeeping. They don’t have to sell the internet anymore – they can sell the convenience it offers because we’ve accepted its ubiquitous nature.
Exactly right. The Net isn’t an application, it’s a platform, and it’s a platform that’s approaching what may be indistinguishible from ubiquity.
A bunch of years ago, Yahoo ran its first TV ads. I was very proud until I noticed that they did not include a URL. Unbeliveable.
