Lately, there hasn't been a lot of good news in network television, but
the news isn't all bad. According to a new study from the University of
Washington, there's at least one group of viewers who are still
watching television, those under the age of two. As The Boston Globe
reported, this study "found that by age 2, 90 percent of children are
watching television for an average of more than 90 minutes a day."
To be honest, the only time I usually read about an MRI is when some
famous athlete gets one done. But now, similar technology is being used
in marketing. Many marketers and researchers are using functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the brains of people to see
how they think when they are watching advertising or making a purchase.
There are many lessons one can learn from such experiments. Don't
worry. As a liberal arts major, I haven't learned most of them, but
here are a few I did pick up.
Taking a break from their ongoing quest to rid the game of steroids,
Major League Baseball has decided to go after something far more
sinister. I'm talking about 87-year-old men who like to sit in the
dugout. Yes, in their infinite wisdom, the commissioner's office has
decided that Johnny Pesky can no longer put on a Red Sox uniform and
sit in the dugout during home games. And you thought Bud Selig didn't
really have any power.
