There Is No Cat

Boring Old Farts

The Observer observes that people over the age of 35 are set in their ways, and advertising to them doesn’t work. "[N]o amount of expensive advertising will convince them to try new products." One bit that resonates particularly, since it doesn’t describe me at all, is this:

When the CD collections of 40-year olds were analysed, it was discovered that there was a point where their tastes ’froze in time’ as they stopped buying new music and started buying compilations instead.

If I ever reach the point where I stop seeking new music, please kill me. As for whether advertising works on this over-35, I think it’s not that I’m set in my ways. I think it’s that I’m smarter and can see through the transparent crap that serves as inducement to purchase. As reformed marketer Doc Searls says, there is no market for messages. Most of us just aren’t interested in being bombarded by ads. And I know that the advent of spam has made me even more resistant to advertising in any form. It’s poisoned the well and made me ever more skeptical.

Posted at 11:55 PM