Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for May 11, 2012

Read the ad!

This isn’t the first time that Calvin was concerned about spending money to achieve coolness.Click here: Calvin and Hobbes (1986)Perhaps today’s Calvin and Hobbes strip helped to inspire the following Non Sequitur comic:Click here: Non Sequitur (2009)

Pay attention to Hobbes, Calvin.

I like Hobbes’ reaction… But why isn’t Hobbes interested in gums??!!

A famous 19th century US financier (whose name escapes me as so many things do) is quoted as saying, “Selling something you have to someone who wants or needs it, is not business. Selling something you don’t have to someone who niether wants nor needs it—this is business!”

Hobbes, your post reminded me of another Calvin strip from 1993 (sorry I don’t know how to post anything other than a link):http://cdn.svcs.c2.uclick.com/c2/30c8abcc250a102d94d7001438c0f03b

Plus the story arc with the propeller beanie. Marketing is in our lives so much but we barely notice it because of all the din from other things.

Thanks, Astute Social Observer. That’s a good one. Even in the case of things that we do know exist, we used to be protected from wasting our money in many cases simply because we were unable to locate the items. But now with the Web and especially eBay, we can just continue searching and eventually find what we really don’t need, and then buy it.

Thanks, JohnnyDiego. Ctrl/+ and Ctrl/scroll work great for me in Firefox. I would add that it may be necessary to press “Control” and “Plus” together repeatedly until the text is large enough. The opposite, to reduce the text, is pressing “Control” and “Minus” together.

afew days so like boring Hobbes’s but Calvin very enjoy with GUM….

Just like cigarettes and alcohol are depicted to make one look one look cool, but more like just act like a fool.

Ooooo. Hobbes, it looks like you need to relabel some comic strips! Astute Social Observer just ‘served’ you with a link to a much more applicable Calvin strip. Lol, just messing, it is nice to receive even more links to similarly themed comic strips.

And I thought Calvin was pretty bright for his age. Not bright enough to get duped by advertisers, I guess.

JUST BUY THE STUPID GUM

Hobbes looks hyper bored!

The Calvin’s of today absolutely, positively gotta, gotta, gotta have the latest MP3 Player, IPhone, IPod, IPad, Blackberry, Kindle, NotePad and LapTop from hell. They don’t make you cool; they keep your brain occupied so you don’t have to think.

I almost forgot; they also make you fat. You’re too busy being “cool” to actually do something physical.

Advertising does work we still do it 20 yr later,but more of it,Calvin you would have a hard time trying it all now a days.

Me thinks Hobbes has more moxie than Calvin.

it’s just going to end up a wad of goo on the sidewalk for someone to step on

@posterblue: Actually, I had never seen the Calvin and Hobbes strip that Astute Social Observer posted. I have been saving many of the strips from Bill Watterson’s final years to enjoy for the first time as they appear daily. Even though I own “The Complete Calvin and Hobbes,” I have deliberately avoided reading many of the strips, in order to enjoy them later, since there will never be any more new ones.

<< midas welby said: “@Hobbes: How on earth can you press such small keys with those enormous furry paws?” >>Did I ever mention that my keyboard is twelve feet long?Just kidding. As a rule, we talking tigers generally find it easiest to use speech recognition software. (Have you ever tried typing with your toenails?):>)

Marketing! Bah!

Perception is the new reality …

And wouldn’t I love to be about 16 to 25 years old…yowza…

I do like Hobbes’ looks in this strip, and his trenchant observation in the last panel. Of course, the comment goes right over Calvin’s head.

+++++

To which I would add: If your coolness depends on buying a product, you ain’t cool!

If we weren’t living in such a “gotta have it now no matter how much it costs!” society, we wouldn’t be raising the next generation to feel the exact same way . . . or maybe even worse!!!

@bizaker: Here is the strip that Astute Social Observer posted. Calvin’s mom and dad seem like fairly astute social observers.Click here: Calvin and Hobbes, January 31, 1993

Havin’ a little bubble trouble?

But our car did go farther with Platformate!

I prefer the Vorlons’ perspective on that subject: “Knowledge is a three-edged sword” (your side, the other guy’s side, and the truth).

Yuuup …We are all shaped by the experiences, and as a result we all have different perceptions.

@Alain Harper: Good evening, or good morning, depending upon where you live. Okay, how about this: Perhaps your comment was inspired by my comment……:>)I think you are correct that, very often, similar strips are created based on a common thought, rather than one strip inspiring the other. Other times it is subconscious, and a cartoonist is remembering a strip they have read in the past, without realizing it — as also happens with music composers subconsciously remembering other music that they have heard.Not sure whether these are my original comments, or whether I have read something similar in the past…..