Marx was right, you know

Can there be anything more postmodern than being nostalgic for TV comercials?

Marx wasn't right about comunism, which proved to be a failure, but he was reight about captialsim--at least in the ways that capitalism works. Captialism has to create desires within consumers for things they don't really need or want in order to keep the economy growing. So when AOL runs a piece on "The Top 25 add icons of all time: TV's most memorable pitchman," they are proving Marx right. They are prompting people to think wistfully about those spokesmpersons they knew and loved as children and, by association, the products they pitced. I ntoiced something right away: all of the products mentioned in the piece are still available. Mikey, Mr. Whipple. the Maytag Repairman and the Snapple Lady may be gone, but you can still buy the great products they sold you on originally! I also noticed that, although they talked about the deaths of some of most of those who were gone, they neglected to mention that two of the actors who played the Marlboro Man died of Lung Cancer. Noticibly absent was the Copertone kid, aka Jodi Foister, but she's got a cadre of lawyers and is still big, so it was probably wise to leave her off the list.