A blipvert is a very brief

television advertisement A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

, lasting one second. The word is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of ''blip'', a brief sound, and ''

advertisement Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

''. The term and concept were used in the 1985 film '' Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future'' and in '' Blipverts'', the first episode of the 1987

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

television show ''

Max Headroom Max Headroom is a fictional character played by actor Matt Frewer. Advertised as "the first computer-generated TV presenter", Max was known for his biting commentary on a variety of topical issues, arrogant wit, stuttering, and pitch-shifting ...

''. In the film and TV show, "blipverts" were new high-speed, concentrated, high-intensity

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

s lasting about three seconds. Their purpose was to prevent the channel-switching that may occur during standard-length commercials, but they had the side-effect of making some viewers explode. They were invented as a

MacGuffin In fiction, a MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself. The term was originated by Angus MacPhail fo ...

to drive the plot.

Real-life examples of compressed advertising

Real life advertisements have been cited as benefiting from a "blipvert effect", in which viewers recall the advertisements better.

Master Lock Master Lock is an American company that sells padlocks, combination locks, safes, and related security products. Now a subsidiary of Fortune Brands Innovations, Master Lock Company LLC was formed in 1921 by locksmithing, locksmith-inventor Harry ...

, which had already made the image of a padlock shot by a

sharpshooter A sharpshooter is one who is highly proficient at firing firearms or other projectile weapons accurately. Military units composed of sharpshooters were important factors in 19th-century combat. Along with " marksman" and "expert", "sharpshooter" ...

into a lasting advertising image with their ad in the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

, incorporated that video image, along with its

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name that it represents, as in ...

, in a one-second-long television commercial in 1998. ''

Advertising Age ''Ad Age'' (known as ''Advertising Age'' until 2017) is a global media brand that publishes news, analysis, and data on marketing and media. Its namesake magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930. ''Ad Age'' appears in ...

'', in describing why the concept did not catch on, said that is "difficult to do much with a one-second ad". In 2002,

MuchMusic Much is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. It is headquartered at 299 Queen Street West in what was o ...

introduced promos that consisted of one of twelve images of a VJ posing in front of the network's logo, lasting for only 1/60th of a second each. The "quickies" were recognized with a

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

for the world's shortest television commercial. In May 2006, GE introduced "One Second Theater", television commercials with additional material included as individual frames in the last second of the ad, for frame-by-frame viewing with

digital video recorder A digital video recorder (DVR), also referred to as a personal video recorder (PVR) particularly in Canadian and British English, is an electronic device that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card, SS ...

s. When viewed at normal speed, the frames flash by rapidly, much like blipverts.

Miller Brewing Company The Miller Brewing Company is an American brewery and beer company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was founded in 1855 by Frederick Miller. Molson Coors acquired the full global brand portfolio of Miller Brewing Company in 2016, and operates the ...

aired a one-second ad during the

Super Bowl XLIII Super Bowl XLIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champions Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...

football game in February 2009. The ad featured

Windell Middlebrooks Windell Dwain Middlebrooks, Jr. (January 8, 1979 – March 9, 2015) was an American actor and singer. Most famous as a TV pitchman for Miller High Life beer, Middlebrooks also starred in ''The Suite Life on Deck'' and ''Body of Proof''. Early ...

, who had been featured in

Miller High Life The Miller Brewing Company is an American brewery and beer company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was founded in 1855 by Frederick Miller. Molson Coors acquired the full global brand portfolio of Miller Brewing Company in 2016, and operates the ...

ads since 2006, standing in a warehouse filled with High Life boxes and quickly shouting "High Life!"Mavity, Ryan. Cape Gazette. '
Middlebrooks delivers the High Life to Coastal Delaware
'. Aug. 27, 2009.

References

External links

GE One Second Theater
{{Max Headroom 1985 neologisms Max Headroom Television commercials Television advertising