Entry #8: the attention span of a goldfish.

Today I pose the age old question of which came first, the goldfish or the short attention span? In all seriousness, the amount of advertising we interact with on a daily basis is unfathomable. According to Yankelvich Research, we are faced with upwards of 2,000,000 ads daily. With Darwin's theory of evolution in mind, it doesn't seem unreasonable and impossible that, as humans, we have evolved according to our habitat. In other words, we have become so overwhelmed with the sheer volume of advertising being thrown at us that we have decreased our attention span to a mere 9 seconds as a means of self-defence. However it could also be argued that the mass bombardment of advertisements exists as a consequence and survival mechanism of the modern-day business. With such a short attention span, brands struggle to get our attention, thus creating ad after ad, pouring upwards of $70BILLION annually on campaigns, promotions, and "call-to-actions."

My opinion lies that the more brands push to get our attention, the more consumers will cover their eyes and ears, only feeding the ever-growing advertising monster, creating a cycle of noise and struggle. As a consumer, a little bit of silence would be so greatly appreciated. If brands considered reducing the volume of ads they produce, replacing them with more clever, innovative, out-going campaigns, maybe we'd all get a little peace of mind. This solution could draw a higher number of consumers to the brand while relieving some of the noise and anger consumers experience on a daily basis. It would ideally be a win-win situation. 

But let's get real, we don't live in a utopian society, or in soviet Russia. Such a solution would take years and billions MORE dollars to implement. It would also require a conscious dedication to brand and advertising excellence, which I highly doubt could be upheld by most brands. In today's consumer, capitalist society, companies are so desperate to make fast money, they shell out thoughtless, bland, boring ads in a half-assed manner. No long-term brand value and ideology reformation will appeal to money-hungry corporations as the commitment is too large for such a distant pay-off.

In other words, we are stuck. As consumers we can make deliberate effort to improve our attention span by reading, playing board games, and other such brain activities. All this in hopes of being able to tap into a well-massaged longer attention span when needed, while maintaining our swift 9 second attention span when faced with our daily does of 2 million advertisements.