Brain Washed Through Comercials
...r and black screen. My dad was a hard working plumber who didn’t make a lot of money back in those days. We lived a comfortable life, but didn’t have the money to blow and go, as we would call it today. He and my mom seemed to be masters of the budget. They always made sure that the roof was over our head, food on the table, and clothes on our back. Things that we bought of any value were usually purchased on the layaway plan. Being the younger brother, I also lived on the hand me down plan. That being, I knew what I would be wearing next season by what my brother had on. So watching television was a fantasy world for us kids, especially the commercials. We would sit and watch all the new toys being advertised and wish we had these things. Weekends, and Christmas time were the worse. Those were the times when kid products were always being sold. But it was always just understood that we couldn’t afford such luxuries. So, my brother and I would usually go out and build our own version of what we thought was a close version of what ever we had seen on television the night before. It helped us bond, to be partners, or a team of inventors on a mission to expand or creative abilities. All it did for my mom was to kind of depress her. She new she would have to wash dishes by hand, and hang the laundry outside, that’s just the way it would be. During the 70’s times seemed to be a lot better. Maybe it was because of the Vietnam War, or for whatever reason, we just seemed to be better off, as a family. Some of the things we saw on those commercials we started to actually get. I remember our first color television; it was a Magnavox, with a 27-inch screen. Wow, that was huge. It felt like you were there. This is also were I notice that a lot of things started to change. We didn’t eat at the dinner table anymore except on Sunday. Even then you could still see the television, and yes it was still on while we ate. Television commercials brought all the new gadgets of the world. It made you feel like you had to have it. You definitely wanted to keep up with the Jones family next door. Sometimes we would have to wait a while to get one of the new gadgets. Dad said we would have to wait and buy it used. Technology was changing so fast that they were coming up with new and improved versions so fast that even some of the old ones were still like new. The advertising, and marketing techniques seemed t...