You can always count on electronics to be hyped way beyond what they truly deliver. I don't care what the ad shows, an ape will not emerge from your television set. Given the fact that this ad is from 1978, chances are the image will be so grainy, you'll be lucky to even tell there's an ape on television at all - your rabbit ears were a long shot from digital high definition TV.
It's astonishing how much expectations people of the 40's and 50's put in electronics. You name the problem or annoyance, the mid-century American had faith an electronic gadget would come along to fix it. Take for instance, the image above: an electronic brain will bypass all the uncertainty and stress in finding a mate. Let's face it, mid-century dating was a bitch - a giant electronic brain would bypass all the BS, and a blinking light would signal couples to start having sex immediately! But don't get too patronizing, today we have the same basic promises being sold via eHarmony and its ilk.
I like to think I was a pretty cool dude in my youth - but then I'm reminded of the fact that I couldn't tear myself away from The Computer Chronicles. Anyone remember this show? It should have been called Chronicles of the Socially Retarded, but I loved it anyway. Basically, by the seventies, electronics were the domain of the nerd, and any semblance of uber coolness leftover from the 50's was a long time gone.
Yes, electronics had become associated with folks like this...
This is an actual yearbook photo. Denise and Joseph, if you're out there, I'd love to hear from ya'. Computers and electronics were now associated with nerdy guys in glasses, while guys that looked like Ted McGinley beat them up and had sex with all the women.
