But Would Rudolph and Yukon Cornelius Wear Speedos?

CBS broadcast the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show a couple of weeks ago.

While the show got 7.5 million viewers (700,000 more than last year), this fact will put it in perspective:

CBS's same-night broadcast of the 1964 Rankin/Bass "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" pulled in 14.6 million viewers.

According to columnist Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune, "Rudolph, Clarice, Hermey the Misfit Elf, Yukon Cornelius, and the Abominable Snowman attracted 7.1 million more people than the super models."

He blamed the low ratings on the fact that people are now tired and immune to hard sales jobs.

The TV and advertising people are desparate for alternatives to commericals which kept skipped - but, according to Rosenthal:

" The bottom line is plugs...won't bring in bucks if the programming around them isn't interesting enough to hold viewer's attention through the sales spiel."

It is almost as if Phil read the Attention Age Doctrine from Rich Schefren. This document observes the fact that people's attention spans are decreasing, due to hyperstimulation, and too much information.

People no longer want to be bombarded with hard sales messages. They would rather be engaged, and provided with quality information.