4 ms·

The TMNT, He-man, etc shows were adverts to sell the toys. Is that really better than youtubers showing a product?

germinalphrase 7y ago
It is - possibly - all terrible.
pbhjpbhj 7y ago
The cartoon was entertainment in it's own right? It may have been a facade, but the veneer was pretty thick. I enjoyed many cartoons as a child and never got any of the toys. The only ones I remember wanting were the transformers, because my friend had them and so there was social pressure. Arguably the whole of HN (the argument is far from watertight IMO ;o)) is here to promote YCombinator and their associates; but it's still valuable to me beyond that. I mean that's how it works, provide something of benefit and surreptitiously embroigle your insidious messages in to that of how someone is inferior without your product.
- shadowgovt 7y ago
  Unboxing videos are also entertaining. One must remember that there's a reason The Price Is Right still has such a high viewership---people actually enjoy looking at stuff and imagining they have it.
  - sarakayakomzin 7y ago
    that's a bullshit comparison based on a bad premise - you think the price is right is driven by consumers wishing they owned the product, rather than the fact that is a game easily played along at home with friends or family. Save for the final showcase items, they're bidding the cost of eggs half the time. this comment is out of touch as fuck.
- wnevets 7y ago
  >The cartoon was entertainment in it's own right? If you ask my parents I'm sure they would disagree and just say it was a way to sell toys to kids
  - krapp 7y ago
    Being entertaining was how they sold toys to kids. The cartoons were selling the mythology behind the toys and showing kids what the gimmicks and features were, and how to play with them. But yes a lot of old 80's cartoons literally only existed to push a toy line.
  - tsukurimashou 7y ago
    what are movies and series selling then
bg4 7y ago
He-man always came with a lesson at the end, iirc.
toast0 7y ago
Children's cartoons on TV aren't usually great, but at least there's a curation process. There's only so much airtime, so we're only going to spend a minute asking us to tune in next week. Not 20% of the time asking us to subscribe and like amd follow. FCC enforcement makes it unlikely that truly awful stuff gets mixed in.

It is - possibly - all terrible.

The cartoon was entertainment in it's own right? It may have been a facade, but the veneer was pretty thick. I enjoyed many cartoons as a child and never got any of the toys. The only ones I remember wanting were the transformers, because my friend had them and so there was social pressure. Arguably the whole of HN (the argument is far from watertight IMO ;o)) is here to promote YCombinator and their associates; but it's still valuable to me beyond that. I mean that's how it works, provide something of benefit and surreptitiously embroigle your insidious messages in to that of how someone is inferior without your product.

shadowgovt 7y ago
Unboxing videos are also entertaining. One must remember that there's a reason The Price Is Right still has such a high viewership---people actually enjoy looking at stuff and imagining they have it.
- sarakayakomzin 7y ago
  that's a bullshit comparison based on a bad premise - you think the price is right is driven by consumers wishing they owned the product, rather than the fact that is a game easily played along at home with friends or family. Save for the final showcase items, they're bidding the cost of eggs half the time. this comment is out of touch as fuck.
wnevets 7y ago
>The cartoon was entertainment in it's own right? If you ask my parents I'm sure they would disagree and just say it was a way to sell toys to kids
- krapp 7y ago
  Being entertaining was how they sold toys to kids. The cartoons were selling the mythology behind the toys and showing kids what the gimmicks and features were, and how to play with them. But yes a lot of old 80's cartoons literally only existed to push a toy line.
- tsukurimashou 7y ago
  what are movies and series selling then

bg4 7y ago

He-man always came with a lesson at the end, iirc.

toast0 7y ago

Children's cartoons on TV aren't usually great, but at least there's a curation process. There's only so much airtime, so we're only going to spend a minute asking us to tune in next week. Not 20% of the time asking us to subscribe and like amd follow. FCC enforcement makes it unlikely that truly awful stuff gets mixed in.