Jingle All The Way

You know, if the truth be told, I never really understood marketing, I mean how it works. When I was growing up watching t.v. commercials, for example all I ever did was make fun of them. Most of them created this strange reality with a product attached to it. I had no idea who bought these items or why they would want them. Friends & I would sit on the couch, trying to ignore the wire V on top of the tube and be somewhat entertained by great leaps in logic and attempts at persuasion. I mean, if you asked me if Ajax Laundry Detergent was stronger than dirt, I'd say it's etched in my brain somewhere. I even acted it out riding around on a pretend horse broomstick singing off key of course my Sir Lancelot version of the jingle at a party for a bunch of six or seven year olds. I have the same recollection of standing in line dreading drinking a vaccine. The only thing I ever liked about commercials was the jingles. The fact that someone could have a job making up songs about products like cereal, vitamins, bug spray, starch, soda, insurance, anti-acid and toilet cleaners gave me a sense of the surreal, yes in it's own way like a Dali painting or some short science fiction novella. I never understood how they worked though. I can't really think of anything I ever bought from watching commercials. Oh wait, Mr. Machine and slinky. Mr. Machine and slinky. You can never escape it all. But for the most part, shiny metal objects that moved was the only brainwashing that worked on me.