Among the many resources this news service holds access to for news, we receive a lot of details on the advertising industry. These forms of information bits range from standard and rather dull reading press releases, to video links found on the ‘net on a product’s new commercial that receive just as much hits via YouTube as it would if viewed on a so-called traditional television receiver.
Not too long ago, there was an article or “blog”, written by P.J. Bednarski, a staff writer for Online Video Daily commenting on how kids are watching their media sans advertising. The article, entitled Are We Raising Commercial-Free Kids?, states that much of the video kids (up to age 14 or so), tend to watch are coming in through streaming media. Many of these outlets offer commercial free programming since they are subscription sites, such as YouTube Red, Hulu, CBS All Access, and perhaps the biggest one in the room, Netflix. (Even the kidvid standards of late, Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel, offer some variation of ad free streaming!) Every one of these outlets offer family friendly material. And since kids are not as picky when it comes to what they watch, when they watch, and how often they view, their selection of video content is nearly endless!
However, PJ Bednarski’s article states that since kids are not tuning in on commercials or related advertising, much of the revenue that folks in the ad industry make will somehow become lost. This, or course, is a red flag to those in the ad industry, and kids will miss out as much as 130 hours per year’s worth of advertising.
Since Video Daily, part of Media Post, writes about the ad business, sees this situation as somewhat of a crisis mode. (Not a big crisis, but something to take heed to!) It’s been noted over the last few years that households with people under the age of 14 (“tweeners” mostly) do play a role when it comes to being an influencer to new products. Much of these influential purchases leaned toward food products. In recent times, it changed to other items that catered toward the so-called “adult” selection. Electronics are the biggest form of items that were once limited to anyone over the age of 21. Kids as young as eight will desire to have a specific smart phone that can do anything and everything, including receiving and sending phone calls!
OK, so kids won’t be seeing much advertising and thus, will miss out from all of those notices of products that they may need or not. They won’t have the opportunity to be influenced to buy products, or have whoever in the household who has access to the cash flow to go out and buy the said products! They will miss out in seeing ads for cereals, toys, or related goods (and possibly services) that are part of a kid and tweener’s domestic lifestyle.
And is kids being commercial free a bad thing? For advertisers and those in the industry, it’s a big yes! For everyone else especially parents or their equivalents–no! In fact, this is the blessing that those same adults of influence to anyone under a certain age are finally receiving. Those from past generations before could only hope for this kind of bliss!
Ever since kidvid began around the time that TV first came into view c. 1948, advertising is what made viewing to the “small fry” viewer (Variety speak) worth its while. On Howdy Doody, Buffalo Bob Smith hawked Wonder Bread and Tootsie Rolls. Space Patrol had Ed Kemmer (as Commander Buzz Corry) push Nestle’s Quik and Ralston Hot Cereal. Even Bob Keeshan as Captain Kangaroo plugged Wonder Bread and Schwynn bicycles. This doesn’t count the endless amount of TV shows that aired locally that had their own TV hosts sell products as well! This caused flack with many pressure groups stating that kids have no logic to know what they really want or need. It was stated through various means that kids should not be exposed to such ads until they are much older. They don’t control the purse strings in a household, and they should not be told what to buy! And when it came to food products-the first in command in product advertising aimed at kids outside of toys and games, many of these products were sugar laded foods from Kellogg’s Sugar Frosted Flakes, Post Cereal’s Sugar Crisps, General Mills’ Frosty-Os (sugar coated Cheerios), and many others, were a staple of Saturday morning TV–the one time place where kidvid ruled!
A group called the Action for Children’s Television was formed in the late 1960’s to improve TV aimed for kids, mostly due to the number of ads that were placed in programming to promote toys. There were other reasons why ACT was formed (to limited violent acts depicted in cartoons, etc.), but the amount of advertising and how the products were pitched were its primary cause for this group to take hold.
A lot has changed within those last fifty or so years. Today, if kids don’t see advertising on their video streaming services, they will eventually see ads, but on their portable devices that sport a screen! A lot of games and related apps one can download to use on a gaming device, an electronic pad, or their phones are advertiser supported. These ads may not be as loud or constant when they were those generations before, but they do exist.
But kids being kids, they will just move on to other means within a few short years, or possibly a few short months and perhaps weeks! However, those sellers of goods will still do their thing! It’s not their end of the world, but maybe just the end of a world for the moment!
PS…Although Halloween is now the big holiday to promote, the Christmas, etc. season is just around the corner! Time will tell if that nine year old out there will want a box of 100+ crayons or a new G5 smartphone to play around with? (Guess what will the kid want! Yeah, we thought so, too!
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NEWS AND REVIEWS
HOLLYWOOD PREMIER PARTY-THE SHOW, is an interactive theatre experience where you, the patron attends a Hollywood premier party for a new feature film, meeting up with the cast, the prime behind-the-scenes crew, along with all of the Tinsel Town drama that goes along with everything in between!
Here’s how this concept works. You (the patron again) is present at a club to celebrate the opening of a new rom-com entitled “Love and Waffles, a story about a young woman living in a small town in New England who can’t find love–until a strange young man from “across the pond” shows up for breakfast at the waffle house she works in as a waitress. But this film itself isn’t the issue. It’s the party for the film. There’s the red carpet where the stars of the feature are on display. There’s the show biz reporter with mic in hand giving viewers a play-by-play account on who is in attendance. There’s a band performing at the party, along with a musical number from the film being recreated on the dance floor as a “floor show”. And there’s the sit down interview session with the cast seated in “director’s chairs” with the obligatory “Q and A” part. Of course, there’s some conflict running throughout, from the screenwriter who’s still angry that his script was butchered without his consent, and the young rap star wannabe whose rap number was cut from the film. With a pushy producer, an egotistical director, and the stars that look as pretty as they can act, one has a premier party to make the gossip and scandal rags–if not winding up on all the regular social media outlets!
This interactive theatre concept, written and directed by Kerry Logan with story by Jonna Ivan and Logan, is one massive take-off to what could be a real and actual Hollywood-esque premier party for a movie. However, although the party itself is genuine (drinks are available at the bar, along with food being served), the party’s theme as well as the movie its celebrating is not! There is no “Love and Waffles”, and the cast and crew present are only actors playing there roles as actors and staff. In short, this “play” is very much akin to such interactive shows as Tony & Tina’s Wedding where the audience is part of the show. However, unlike Tony & Tina, attendees are not necessarily required to participate. They can just enjoy the theatrics going around them while having a drink from the bar or chomping down on food items that hold relationship to the movie that this party focuses upon. The food in this case is burgers with the trimmings, and for dessert, ice cream and waffles! (What else?)
This show features a very robust cast that play the actors that appear in “Love and Waffles”, mostly as “C” and “D” list-type stars, as well as the director A.J. McFurrey (Phil Biedron), its producer Trevor (Wesley Caldwell), the screenplay writer Bill Oldman (R.J. Bonds), the star agent Bobby “Box Office” Gold (Jack Zullo), and the film stars themselves: Action star Chaz Dearbourne (Tom Kiesche), the romantic leading lady Megan Simms (Ellie Carey), her comical sidekick Nikki Pantera (Kristen Lynn), and the leading man sporting an English accent Mark Madson (Haldane Morris). The master of ceremonies Mary Sharp (Julia Marie Buis) is present with mic in hand informing the video public on what’s going on, ready to present “deep” and “intimate” interviews with the stars at bay! There are other characters found within the cast, but space doesn’t allow this writer to list them all! There characters include everyone raging from an acting coach, a production assistant, a handful of starlets, a limo driver, a starlet way past her prime, and a celebrity stalker abound added for good measure!
For those that know what’s the real lowdown that takes place within the so-called world of the “entertainment industry”, one will totally enjoy this event as it grabs many of the stereotypes that make up part of this practice called “show business”, and enhances the obscurity that this form of business contains! For those that may only know some parts of this industry if anything at all, the entire concept may be over the heads who aren’t as connected to the movie making biz! However, Los Angeles and Hollywood, the community where HOLLYWOOD PREMIER PARTY takes place, is wrapped around this method of trade that churns out TV shows, movies, and other forms of media purely in the name of money making entertainment! As to “Love and Waffles, again, there is no such movie! But one can get an idea to what the “film” is all about as described by the outline one can find in the program as well as discovering the party’s atmosphere. (Authentic “props” from the movie are promptly on display!) So dress up in your favorite party outfit that can consist of a suit, a cocktail dress, a “little black dress”, or as a faded pair of jeans with a matching t-shirt, and cry out “hoo-ray for Hollywood!”
HOLLYWOOD PREMIERE PARTY-THE SHOW, takes place at Manor On Vine, 1718 Vine Street, Hollywood, until November 5th each Friday & Saturday evening beginning at 6:15 PM. For tickets, visit http://www.plays411.com/hpp. For more information about HOLLYWOOD PREMIER PARTY, visit http://www.HollywoodPremiereParty.com.
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