Picasso and advertising.

There is in our industry a fascination with the ephemera of youth. As the Ad Contrarian has so astutely pointed out, "We love new things and hate old things. Just look at the advertising we create.

People over the age of 50 control 77% of the wealth of this country. Please show me one Super Bowl ad this year that was directed at them.

The average American buys 13 cars in his lifetime -- 8 of them after the age of 50. When is the last time you saw an old person in a car ad?"

This morning I read an article in The New York Times by Roberta Smith called "'Picasso: Mosqueteros' Going All Out, Right to the End." I particularly liked this quotation: "In the last 10 years of his life, Picasso raised his game. Everything was pushed to a new place in his work." You can read the entire article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/arts/design/17pica.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=picasso&st=cse

Much of the work in the exhibition, by the way, was created when Picasso was in his late 70s.