Spongebob vs. Optimus Prime
My son posed one of his many questions this weekend. His face and tone was serious. He walked up as I poured a cup of coffee and asked, “Dad, was Spongebob on TV when you were a kid?” Whew! Thank goodness he isn’t old enough for ‘those’ questions.
No, Spongebob wasn’t on TV when I was a kid, but Generation X was a test market heaven for an industry in it’s infancy. Of course, we had Bugs Bunny and Road Runner. Those were classics but our parents related to Bugs and Daffy. The ad wizards drooled as our generation reached the ‘tween’ demo. Masters of the Universe, Transformers, Thundercats and more. Our cartoons. These weren’t just cartoons, these were marketing machines!
I can remember jumping on a JTS bus at the bottom of Skyview and Wright Road with my brother, heading to the mall, running to Circus World and Montgomery Wards. We scrambled to get the newest Skeletor figurine, Snarf figurine or Optimus Prime because the last one snapped after turning his arm the wrong way.
I consider the 1980’s the wild west of pre-teen and teen toy/television marketing. How many parents of Gen X kids have Shirt Tale drinking glasses from Hardee’s or cheesy Smurf sticker book from Godfather’s Pizza? Ad gurus tried everything.
Ah, our kids have it so easy. They don’t have to jump on the bus and find latest and greatest thing. Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel tell them what’s cool and they can jump online for their targeted message. Hannah Montana one minute and iCarly the next. The game complimenting the show is online and the merchandise is licensed exclusively to a big box retailer. It's down to a science.
I’m sick of iCarly. If I have to watch, I prefer True Jackson, VP. When the TV is on we're trying to steering content back to educational. Do old episodes of Full House count as education?
The ad Gods of 2010 probably laugh at the crude way companies went to market in the 1980’s. They may laugh, but there’s something special about the box of useless plastic toys that sit in the basement of my dad’s place. Heck, they still work.
I wonder what questions will be posed this week? I’m always ready for a Spongebob softball. I’ll take them while I can get them.
Steve Knox was born, raised and landed back in Janesville. He encourages you to participate as he writes on Janesville and beyond as this Generation X guy supports his Janesville mission, global vision. Steve is a community blogger and is not a part of Janesville Gazette staff. His opinion is not necessarily that of the Janesville Gazette staff or management.
Jan 6, 2010 at 2:34 p.m.
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My 7-year-old son has all of my Star Wars figures from when I was a kid and the first thing I noticed was how much more durable the old figures are. He gets one of the new figures and it'll break an arm off in the first few days.
Jan 6, 2010 at 9:47 a.m.
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Ahhh, but there's a plus side to having all of those things from the past. They're now COLLECTIBLES. I've taken all of my son's toys to him, and those his kids don't/won't play with go on the auction block. He's made a nice little tidy sum from the sale. Remember, old doesn't mean worthless. You just have to find the market.
Jan 6, 2010 at 9:03 a.m.
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Wow. You fixed that fast...
Jan 6, 2010 at 8:59 a.m.
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Obviously, Steve, you are not an Autobot. You must be an agent of Megatron and the cruel Decepticons...
Jan 6, 2010 at 8:47 a.m.
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I'm not sure if I'm missing something, but isn't the name: OPTIMUS PRIME...not OPTIMIST PRIME?
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