Advertising is often justly criticized, but it’s also an instructive form of popular culture. As the British writer Norman Douglas put it, “You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements.” That’s because advertising creates a desire for what most of us don’t have. Put another way, advertising sells what’s missing. And, ideally, if we know what’s missing we can set about fixing it.

Here’s an example:

Exxon Mobil is currently running a television campaign that features their involvement in a project called Let’s Solve This. One ad begins with a chart that shows American kids now rank 17th in science and 25th in math worldwide.

Exxon Mobil’s concern is straightforward. They can no longer hire enough well-educated public school graduates to meet their needs and have decided to get involved in education out of enlightened self-interest.

What’s missing here? A public school system that can still compete on the world stage, that’s what. Took a lot to ruin the whole system, and there’s plenty of blame to go around. From teachers unions that protect incompetence, to the Federal Department of Education’s largely unfunded mandates that have – almost without exception – lowered the standard of classroom instruction.

Add to this the gaggle of politically correct but cognitively out-to-lunch psychologists who convinced school administrations that self-esteem is best built in youth by making sure no one ever loses. Not in the classroom. Not even on the playing field. My nephew tells me his son plays in a soccer league where if one team gets too far ahead, they’re not allowed to score any more points. Excellent training for finishing 17th one day. Even 25th may not disappoint.

Here are two more campaigns that provide insight into our collective condition:

Sponsored by Apple Computer, ads feature actors (John Malkovich among others) carrying on an intimate conversation with their iPhones. The phone apparently understands not only words but also human intentions. To the delight of the spokespersons, the phone responds with ideas and suggestions of its own.

There’s a similar spot from Chrysler touting its new MKS Lincoln. Here, the ad contends the car actually has “intuition.” That is, it’s equipped to measure your activity and driving habits and then, depending on its analysis, takes action on its own like suddenly applying the brakes. The tagline at the end of the ad reads, “Now it’s getting interesting.”

Interesting may not be the right word. By most estimates, kids are now interacting with a digital screen at least 32 hours each week. One-year-olds are staring at a screen two hours a day, according to the Academy of Pediatrics.

Much has been made of the fact that most of this screen time takes place sitting on our butts. It’s not just super-sized drinks and school buses that stop every 30 yards that are making us fat. More worrisome is that we used to talk face-to-face. Then we talked to each other over wires and airwaves. What’s missing now? We’re talking to machines that we programmed. We’re talking to ourselves. We’re all missing.

Here’s another tip for watching ads more critically. Check out the backgrounds and settings used. For decades, the most popular outdoor choice was the ocean. Not anymore. Oceans have become threatening with hurricanes, tsunamis, rogue waves, rising water levels, pollution and pirates. Now the bucolic setting of choice among ad agency art directors is a lake. More local. Drinkable water. Safer place. Much more desirable in a world of diminishing resources and unforeseen foreign dangers.

Good news for Maine’s 6,000 bodies of water at least one acre in size, too. State Department of Economic Development please take note.

There you have it – a quick course in how to tell what’s hot and what’s not in America by watching what interrupts the so-called programming. Sure beats trying to make sense out of the contradictory chatter spewing from the mouths of hundreds of talking heads and so-called experts dancing around the fringes of issues without ever dealing with core problems.

Start examining ads with an eye and ear toward noticing what’s missing. As Thomas Jefferson said, “Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied upon in a newspaper.”

You can find them. Besides, it’s not like you have to buy anything.

Rick Roberts is a veteran of Boston’s advertising community and the US Army. He resides in Windham. He is author of two books: I Was Much Happier When Everything I Owned Was In The Back Seat Of My Volkswagen, and the recent novel, Digital Darling. Both are available at bookstores, Amazon.com, or visit: BabyBoomerPress.com.

Advertising is often justly criticized, but it’s also an instructive form of popular culture. As the British writer Norman Douglas put it, “You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements.” That’s because advertising creates a desire for what most of us don’t have. Put another way, advertising sells what’s missing. And, ideally, if we know what’s missing we can set about fixing it.

Here’s an example:

Exxon Mobil is currently running a television campaign that features their involvement in a project called Let’s Solve This. One ad begins with a chart that shows American kids now rank 17th in science and 25th in math worldwide.

Exxon Mobil’s concern is straightforward. They can no longer hire enough well-educated public school graduates to meet their needs and have decided to get involved in education out of enlightened self-interest.

What’s missing here? A public school system that can still compete on the world stage, that’s what. Took a lot to ruin the whole system, and there’s plenty of blame to go around. From teachers unions that protect incompetence, to the Federal Department of Education’s largely unfunded mandates that have – almost without exception – lowered the standard of classroom instruction.

Add to this the gaggle of politically correct but cognitively out-to-lunch psychologists who convinced school administrations that self-esteem is best built in youth by making sure no one ever loses. Not in the classroom. Not even on the playing field. My nephew tells me his son plays in a soccer league where if one team gets too far ahead, they’re not allowed to score any more points. Excellent training for finishing 17th one day. Even 25th may not disappoint.

Here are two more campaigns that provide insight into our collective condition:

Sponsored by Apple Computer, ads feature actors (John Malkovich among others) carrying on an intimate conversation with their iPhones. The phone apparently understands not only words but also human intentions. To the delight of the spokespersons, the phone responds with ideas and suggestions of its own.

There’s a similar spot from Chrysler touting its new MKS Lincoln. Here, the ad contends the car actually has “intuition.” That is, it’s equipped to measure your activity and driving habits and then, depending on its analysis, takes action on its own like suddenly applying the brakes. The tagline at the end of the ad reads, “Now it’s getting interesting.”

Interesting may not be the right word. By most estimates, kids are now interacting with a digital screen at least 32 hours each week. One-year-olds are staring at a screen two hours a day, according to the Academy of Pediatrics.

Much has been made of the fact that most of this screen time takes place sitting on our butts. It’s not just super-sized drinks and school buses that stop every 30 yards that are making us fat. More worrisome is that we used to talk face-to-face. Then we talked to each other over wires and airwaves. What’s missing now? We’re talking to machines that we programmed. We’re talking to ourselves. We’re all missing.

Here’s another tip for watching ads more critically. Check out the backgrounds and settings used. For decades, the most popular outdoor choice was the ocean. Not anymore. Oceans have become threatening with hurricanes, tsunamis, rogue waves, rising water levels, pollution and pirates. Now the bucolic setting of choice among ad agency art directors is a lake. More local. Drinkable water. Safer place. Much more desirable in a world of diminishing resources and unforeseen foreign dangers.

Good news for Maine’s 6,000 bodies of water at least one acre in size, too. State Department of Economic Development please take note.

There you have it – a quick course in how to tell what’s hot and what’s not in America by watching what interrupts the so-called programming. Sure beats trying to make sense out of the contradictory chatter spewing from the mouths of hundreds of talking heads and so-called experts dancing around the fringes of issues without ever dealing with core problems.

Start examining ads with an eye and ear toward noticing what’s missing. As Thomas Jefferson said, “Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied upon in a newspaper.”

You can find them. Besides, it’s not like you have to buy anything.

Rick Roberts is a veteran of Boston’s advertising community and the US Army. He resides in Windham. He is author of two books: I Was Much Happier When Everything I Owned Was In The Back Seat Of My Volkswagen, and the recent novel, Digital Darling. Both are available at bookstores, Amazon.com, or visit: BabyBoomerPress.com.