Word: arlene
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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THIRTY SECONDS by Michael J. Arlen; Farrar, Straus & Giroux...
Thirty Seconds is Michael Arlen's close-up pan and dissolve of the people who package desire and fulfillment into half-minute television commercials. As the book suggests, these subplots of our viewing lives are frequently more skillfully made and better remembered than the programs they sponsor. Moreover, the relationships between commercials and fairy tales are too strong to ignore. Princes and Princesses Charming, sturdy folk and innocent children are besieged by malicious forces. Tooth imps and underarm pixies generate embarrassing vapors; gremlins leave grimy stigmata on clothing, and devilkins foul points and plugs. Inevitably, the hapless are rescued...
...Arlen focuses mainly on the making of a single commercial, American Telephone & Telegraph's effort to encourage more long-distance calling or, as their infectious jingle suggests, "Reach out, reach out and touch someone." Says the vice president in charge of the "creative group" that devised the ad: "From the very beginning, AT&T wanted us to overcome the negative emotions associated with long-distance, the bad-news phone call in the middle of the night. For years, there has been a definitely negative, uncasual quality to a lot of long-distance calling. AT&T wanted us to emphasize...