Attention please! Anytime a face pops up in a commercial and starts talking people below the age of 20 tune out because they assume it’s about insurance, financial advisors, or some other “adult” thing. Young people’s commercial attention span is nil.

Now companies have adapted their advertisements to attract the coveted youth consumer market. Most commercials aimed at younger generations consist of twenty different two-second clips of attractive people having a great time in a scenic place using whatever product is being sold.

I remember when Levi Strauss first started using this style of commercial in their Levi’s Go Forth campaign several years ago. People initially had no idea what was going on in those commercials. The commercials felt jumbled and frantic compared to the monotonous commercials that surrounded it. Now every commercial I see for smart phones, fast food, cars, cameras, or clothes reminds me of that “Go Forth” style.  Short clips to keep the viewers attention. It works.

Where did this style come from? Why is everyone using it? I think advertisers have gotten smart. They recognize now that young generations aren’t going to buy something just cause they saw a commercial for it. However, younger generations will definitely look something up online that they see in a commercial if it gets their attention and interest.

Commercials now aren’t giving people a lot of information about the product that they are advertising. Young generations don’t want to hear all the info and specs of a gadget during its commercial because they can go online to see that themselves.  The youth of America also want verification from online consumer reviews before they decide to buy a product. Commercials are becoming strictly attention-getters. They get people online so that the consumer can analyze and decide if the product is worth buying.