TELEVISION commercials have grown shorter over the decades, with 60-second spots the norm at the dawn of the medium, 30-second spots growing popular in the 1970s, and 15-second spots catching on in the 1980s. The number of 15-second ads grew more than 80 percent between 2008 and 2012, according to Nielsen, which notes the popularity of mobile devices, where commercials must impress quickly as users toggle among apps.
Arby’s, however, is about to air a commercial long enough to tax the battery life of even the heartiest of mobile devices — 13 hours.
When it appears once on a single television station in Duluth, Minn., beginning Saturday afternoon, it is expected to enter the Guinness Book of World Records, shattering the record for the longest television commercial of 60 minutes, held by the Nivea brand for a spot that ran in Switzerland in 2011.
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I can just hear some kid whining that he’ll take out the garbage (or she’ll clean her room) after the commercial…