• by Masha Geller , August 28, 2001

I'm taking a break this week, much like a large percentage of the ad industry (and I have the autoresponders to prove that), so I thought it would be fun to reprint some of the lighter, sillier Minutes from the past to celebrate the end of the summer and take a break from serious issues. Next week, we'll get back to the business at hand. Until then, here's something from the past:

June 23, 2000

Here's something that could "alter your advertising strategies." AdOutlet.com, a NYC-based advertising exchange company, asked about 160 people to keep diaries of their thoughts for one week and uncovered this: the average man thinks about sex far less than the average woman - 35 minutes a day compared to 87 minutes a day.

Why an ad exchange would feel the need to study this sort of thing is beyond me, but here's what else they found out: Men spend about five times as much time thinking about household chores than they do about romance. Women spend most time thinking about health issues, followed by sex, family, career and romance. Right so far? Read on!

The Top Five Things On Men's Minds? Work issues, food, the Internet, personal appearance and television. Sports ranked #28, sex came in at #30, and romance at #45 - that's 2.3 minutes a day.

What's more, professionals with the most "Sex On The Mind," according to AdOutlet, are Dentists (85 minutes), Accountants (80 minutes), Lawyers (75 minutes), Advertising Executives (60 minutes), and Government Executives (58 minutes). No comments, please!

And, the top Five Issues (in the news) men & women think about for more than 15 minutes a day are Economy/Stock Market, Celebrity Gossip, Our Kids' Schools, Whether or not Chandler or Monica (from Friends) will get married, and Taxes. Ten seconds or less? Bill Clinton (10 seconds a day), the Presidential Election (8 seconds), Social Security (7 seconds), NBA Playoffs and Marisleysis Gonzalez.

Now, I know there must be some way to apply this newly found wisdom to a media plan, but I just can't seem to think of one. Can you?