Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2017 September 3

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September 3

Recent prevalence of owls in TV ads

Currently there are at least 3 ads running on Detroit TV which feature owls, for Xyzal [1], Trip Advisor [2], and America's Best Contacts & Eyeglasses [3]. Why ? Did somebody just release a study showing owls to be the most effective corporate mascot ? There's the traditional association of owls with wisdom, and in the case of glasses, there's also the large eyes of owls to emphasize vision. However, why the recent uptick in owl usage ? StuRat (talk) 20:10, 3 September 2017 (UTC)

Coincidence? Or...

See: Frequency illusion, a.k.a: Baader-Meinhof phenomenon — 2606:A000:4C0C:E200:2C59:D6C7:F7FC:8BB5 (talk) 23:41, 3 September 2017 (UTC)

...See also: Hooters

• One of my children dreamed of an owl the other night. I think we're on to something. Drmies (talk) 23:43, 3 September 2017 (UTC)

See Why are owls so popular right now and A hoot in the home: How the owl became a decorating sensation. For a possible underlying cause, see Harry Potter effect? Boy wizard could be to blame for rise in OWLS being stolen. Alansplodge (talk) 09:03, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

Ad owls aren't new. See Red Owl, Woodsy Owl and Mr. Owl. They aren't exactly prevalent recently, either. Think of how many ad cats, ad dogs and ad bears you see every day. Anyway, there's a giant owl at Bohemian Grove. I think it explains everything, but I'm gullible. InedibleHulk (talk) 14:51, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

Of course owls aren't new, and of course other animals are used extensively in advertising. My claim was that more owls seem to be used currently in TV ads than in the past. You compared the 3 current owl TV ads to 3 others used over decades (and the Red Owl one wasn't even used here). StuRat (talk) 15:12, 5 September 2017 (UTC)

There's more of everything on TV lately, because there's more TV and the ad breaks are longer. But proportionately, it doesn't seem (to me) that owls are any closer to cats, dogs or bears on the corporate mascot ladder than they've been before. These new computer-animated owls have a greater dramatic range, though; they may seem busier today by doing and saying more in their allotted (owlotted) time. InedibleHulk (talk) 08:10, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

There's even catvertising on Wikipedia. InedibleHulk (talk) 15:05, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

Perhaps the owls are not what they seem? Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 13:07, 5 September 2017 (UTC)

Indeed. The Latin word for owl is strix, which also means witch. There's a great deal of lore connecting owls with alien visitors. [4], [5], [6], [7]. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 22:13, 5 September 2017 (UTC)

See Confirmation bias. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:27, 5 September 2017 (UTC)

Hmmm, ... we don't have an article on Cultural depictions of owls. 2606:A000:4C0C:E200:E4D4:56ED:FF5A:EFBE (talk) 15:18, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

I think I'll go to Hooters -- strictly for research purposes only. Yeah, that's it. 2606:A000:4C0C:E200:E4D4:56ED:FF5A:EFBE (talk) 20:59, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

We don´t, but we should! Like Cultural depictions of ravens. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 08:14, 7 September 2017 (UTC)

Until then, we have Category:Fictional owls. All opened in new tabs, it's almost like a Wildlife Fact File binder. Just less true. InedibleHulk (talk) 13:16, 7 September 2017 (UTC)

Interesting. I see there are 2 owls listed from the Harry Potter series. That might have increased their popularity, being a fairly recent and highly popular book and film series. The books are 10-20 years old, so many of those readers are young adults by now, and available to buy items advertised by owls. StuRat (talk) 14:58, 7 September 2017 (UTC)

Keep in mind, those two are a great gray owl and a snowy owl. The ones in the ads are all horned owls. Kids are stupid, but they know a round head from a pointy one. TripAdvisor has been using their owl (in rudimentary form) since 2002, when the most impressed readers were too young to book travel. InedibleHulk (talk) 16:23, 7 September 2017 (UTC)

Category:Fictional owls is missing Owl. Alansplodge (talk) 00:27, 9 September 2017 (UTC)

Fixed. InedibleHulk (talk) 15:57, 9 September 2017 (UTC)