Influenced by TV

george tichbourne

george tichbourne

Joined
Apr 19, 1999
Messages
3,560
A couple of weeks ago I was doing a craft show in Toronto. The night before the show began the television progam West Wing was on with the story line including that bit about carving knives, of course I missed it because we were doing setup for the show. The next day at the show I had several requests for carving knives, I know that doesn't sound so odd but past experience has been that demand for carvers is not that high. After the third request in two hours I began to wonder what I had missed and asked the customer and was told about the show's story line.

I found it odd that a minor story line in popular TV show could trigger so much interest in a product. On reflection I guess that I shouldn't be so surprised given the rise in interest in Bowie knives everytime there is a rerun of Crocodile Dundee.

This seems to put to rest the advertising industry's claim that people must be exposed to an advertisement three times before they remember the content. Certainly in the right context a single viewing seems to do the job. Are we the public so open to influence by the media???

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george
www.tichbourneknives.com
sales@tichbourneknives.com


 
silly people, i am not so mentally deficient as to be influ....hang on. Go ahead 1 Adam 12...need assistance? this is dispatch....
 
Yes, we are. There was a story about a pair of sunglasses used in 'Terminator 2.' The scene called for a pair to be taken from Schwarzenegger and crushed under foot. Screen time was less than a second. When the film premiered, the company was flooded with calls for those EXACT sunglasses. Smith & Wesson model 29's sold for 150 bucks before "Dirty Harry." A custom bike builder in Madison named 'Frenchy' routinely got requests for 'stars and stripes' paint jobs after "Easy Rider." A felon used the viewing of "Natural Born Killers" as a defense.
Of course, my uncle Vinnie has seen Ewoks since "Star Wars," but I believe that is different...--OKG
 
I don't need TV. This BB is enough of an influence causing me to buy knives I had no idea existed before I joined.

[This message has been edited by roguesoul (edited 12-09-2000).]
 
To answer your question...Yes!
By the way, do you have any links to any good sites with carving knives ?

Donald.
 
And what of sex, immorality, and violence on TV, in movies, and in other media? Harmless?

Some would have you believe that seeing sex, immorality, crime, and violence in the media doesn't influence other people, doesn't influence your children... anymore so than seeing a carving knife in a brief scene might.

Think W!


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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.balisongcollector.com
 
If what we see on TV did not influence us, no, advertisers would not spend a penny on it.

It is incredible how much !@#$%^ there is out there. Look at some of these kid shows or even movies that are just extended advertisements for the "action figures" and clothes and comic books that go along with them. Series like Star Wars are nothing but a huge marketing campaign.

On the other hand, a gentle reminder, a good idea leading to a sensible inquiry, that's not pandering to weakness. After all, those people at the show didn't go out and buy a set of Ginsu knives, they came to YOU and asked about a quality product. (I hope some of them bought something!)
 
A book that has something to say about this subject is;

On Killing : The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society
by Lt Col David Grossman

A good read.

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Thank you,
Marion David Poff aka Eye, Cd'A ID, USA mdpoff@hotmail.com

>>--->Bill Siegle Custom Knives<---<<
-http://www.geocities.com/siegleknives-

Talonite Resource Page, nearly exhaustive!!

Fire Page, metal match sources and index of information.

"We will either find a way, or make one." Hannibal, 210 B.C.
 
In retrospect I guess that the time I spend each day on the web is time better spent than watching TV. I wouldn't want to be influenced to buy something that I don't need. Here all I have to do is see the name Ginsu and I can chose another thread, I don't have to sit through the entire commercial.

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george
www.tichbourneknives.com
sales@tichbourneknives.com


 
Being a certified, should be institutionalized knife knut Im always looking for a new and interesting way to satisfy my desire for spending money on custom sharp shinny things. How many hiking tactical end of the world knives can you have. Sometimes its just a matter of being presented with an idea that you wouldnt have nessesarily come upon without an influence. Until I purused someones site recently it hadnt occured to me that there were custom makers making Kitchen cutlery. Duh ... Should have been a no brainer but I admit it was a news flash to my tired brain. Now since I enjoy using and careing for custom knives and since 98 percent of my knife usage is in the kitchen well ... boy wouldnt it be cool to have a nice set of kitchen tools and steak knives that would give you pleasure in using. Bet the food would taste better too
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You just dont see to much promotion here or in the magazines about the latest carver or paring knife. PJ Tomes had some stuff on his table at the NY show that I swear could have inspired me to cook more often.



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Alex
This way to my Knife page

<A HREF="http://home.att.net/~a.boriqua" TARGET=_blank>
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Man, you missed Maurice's post about the Ginsu's?? Man, you missed out!
smile.gif
I think TV affects people like others have said. How bout the knives sold on QVC? shudder..you know how many of my friends want me to make them one of thoe fantasy knifes they see?? I tell them the price and they back down..they were thinking 30 or maybe 50..then I tell them what's really involved in knifemaking and tell them if they want that stuff, buy it, cuz I won't make it!
 
I am just sorry to hear that knife people are watching a liberal piece of crap show like west wing.

I have only seen previews, so if it is not really a liberal piece of crap, I retract my statement.
smile.gif
 
Not to put too fine a point on it, my fascination with knives started with "The Iron Mistress" and with the "Jim Bowie Show" on tv when I was a kid in the early/mid-1950s. If you find me tacky for that, so be it, but I will bet you that many of us, if we are honest, can trace our interest in knives to similar stimuli.

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Walk in the Light,
Hugh Fuller

[This message has been edited by FullerH (edited 12-11-2000).]
 
I think that there is a difference between commercials and seeing something in the context of a story or specific show. Movies and special shows probably have a much greater influence in one go-round than a TV commercial, unless it's an especially clever TV commercial.

IMO, TV commercials rely on the "if we say it enough times, it must be true" syndrome, while the context of movies or specific shows provides the impetus for the buying public.

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Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM
 
Don't forget that when you see a recognizable product in a favorite TV show it is almost always because the manufacturer paid for the "product placement". When you see your favorite TV character drink a Coke it is most likely a Coke and not a Pepsi or a non-identifiable can because Coke paid for it to be Coke. You can even pay to have your product written into the script of your favorite programs.

Movies are the same way. Ever wonder about the BMW in Golden Eye? Doesn't it seem like sort an afterthought? The movie begins with Bond driving an old Austin Martin and then this BMW suddenly appears but isn't harldy used. The fact is that late in the creation of that movie they were running short of funds. BMW stepped forward and bought a product placement. So, they went back, shot a few scenes, and editted it into the already complete film.

Think W! (not a paid product placement)

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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.balisongcollector.com
 
I was talking to a lady at the Chesapeake Knife show this past weekend, they make a selection of Tomahawks and I asked if the movie The Patriot had much impact on their business and she smiled and said everytime a movie like that comes out sales always go way up! Make sense!

G2

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"The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions!"
Take the time to read your Bible Now, don't be left behind...
 
Hugh,
I think what you say makes perfect sense. The books we read, and the movies we watch when we're children that are really able to capture our imagination have a huge influence on us for the rest of our lives, IMHO. And rightly so (provided, of course, that we're watching the right kind of movies and reading the right kind of books
smile.gif
).

knzn,
No retractions or apologies necessary, my friend. That show is the worst kind of liberal crap, the kind that tries to camouflage itself in moderate clothing.

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Semper Fi

-Bill
 
Hey, Gollnick, remember the Reeses Pieces in Steven Spielberg's "ET"? I read somewhere, maybe in Forbes magazine, that he had originally asked Mars Candy for permission to use M&M's and they had refused, so he had chosen Reeses Pieces, of which almost nobody had heard at the time. Big mistake for Mars as it made Reeses Pieces a real competitor for M&Ms. I think that I actually prefer them.

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Walk in the Light,
Hugh Fuller
 
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