Damned Statistics

A recent survey of 12-34 year olds found only 25 percent could identify all four broadcast network stations.

The survey became the most emailed Advertising Age article of the day, and garnered a spot on the zeitgeisty Drudge Report.

The implication being this information should be of grave concern to the broadcast and advertising industries -- if not the nation as a whole.

I contend it's nothing to worry about.

Ever since they started surveying these type of things, we've been bombarded with statistics showing the youth of America struggle to identify things awake they should be able to recite in their sleep.

As a child in the 80's I remember a lot of numerically backed talk of how the typical American student could barely name any of the fifty states -- let alone other countries. This was in stark contrast to the geography whiz's they were creating over in the Soviet Union and Japan.

We all know how that story ended.

The Soviet Union collapsed, unleashing such monstrosities as Kazakhstan, Kyrgzstan and Tajikistan on unsuspecting geography students the world over. In Japan the bubble burst unleashing ... Flooding ..? A rash of low-quality anima ..? I really don't know.

But I do know this -- All of my contemporaries who couldn't find the United States on a map if they were spotted the Northern and Western hemispheres had no trouble finding Mexico when Spring Break and Cancun beckoned. Nor did the countries of Europe pose much of a challenge when they decided to take time off and bum around the old world.

So cheer up ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. As long as you provide quality programming the youth of America will find you.