"A Generation Serves Notice: It's a Moving Target"

            I read Tom Zeller’s article, “A Generation Serves Notice: It’s a Moving Target” without looking at the date it was published, and I was both surprised and not surprised by the fact that it was published in 2006.  I was surprised because I feel like many of the concerns and issues expressed in this article are still around today. Marketing to young audiences and using the Internet as a platform for television and advertising is a common topic of debate today, but this article made me realize that this topic has been around for many years, and that advertising has come a long way since 2006.  Thinking back to 2006, I can’t remember any commercials on Youtube, or even the existence of websites like Hulu or Netflix.  If they were around at the time, I didn’t utilize them to watch new television or catch up with old television.  However, Hulu and Netflix now play prominent roles in my life.  I use Hulu because I don’t have cable in my apartment.  Hulu allows me to enjoy the money I am saving by not paying for cable because I can still catch up with shows after they initially air.  Netflix provides a wide array of choices of television and movies, and it’s convenient because I have a Wii, which can stream Netflix onto my television.  Although I still rent movies from an actual movie rental store from time to time, I mainly watch movies via Netflix.  I was not surprised by the fact that this article was published in 2006, because many of the main points seem relatively outdated, and there are many things that I would have included in this article that aren’t even mentioned, probably because they didn’t exist in 2006.  That just goes to show how rapidly technology and marketing adapts to the needs of consumers.  This class has opened my eyes to the importance of young consumers especially.  It seems like most companies gear their marketing campaigns toward young people, while older people are included as an afterthought.  It makes me wonder how successful these advertising campaigns are on me!  I feel like I could be “unplugged” from my phone or the Internet for an extended amount of time, but that just might be the way that my personality operates.  I think I’ll find out how important the Internet, television, and my phone are to me during Winter Break, when I’ll have extended amounts of free time.