
The Great Garfield Car Window Toy Craze (2016) - curtis
http://mentalfloss.com/article/87936/great-garfield-car-window-toy-craze
======
technofiend
I found the ubiquitous "BABY ON BOARD" signs far more annoying. As though
everyone around the minivan in question would quietly, meekly scuttle past at
5 MPH above the speed limit lest they disturb baby and then go right back to
their Road-Warrioresque shenanigans.

~~~
angmarsbane
My understanding is that the BABY ON BOARD sign is to notify emergency
personnel arriving to a car accident that there is a child/baby in the vehicle
who will not be able to get out of the vehicle on their own etc.

Personally, I've also looked at the BABY ON BOARD signs as a heads-up that the
person driving that vehicle may be more cautious or slower than other cars. I
treat it like a student driver decal.

~~~
onion2k
I don't believe the emergency services would check based on a anything like a
"baby on board" sign. If they can check then they will, regardless of _any_
sign. For a start, anything like that is going to fall off in a significant
crash. Secondly, plenty of cars don't have them, and other cars have them when
there isn't a child on board. Thirdly, a plastic sign would be one of the
first things to melt if there was a fire. And lastly, if it was true then the
emergency services would recommend drivers have them. They'd give them away as
promotional items. No one would need to buy one.

It _can 't_ be true.

~~~
khedoros1
Wishful thinking on the part of the parents. It doesn't have to actually be
effective for that to be the intended use.

------
ComputerGuru
...of 1987, fwiw

------
mikestew
Ugh, between the pop music of the time (e-NUFF with the fewkin' synths
already) and the height of the Garfield era, the '80s were a dark time. I
always suspected that Garfield was just a marketing company in disguise, a
natural outgrowth of what _Peanuts_ had become, without the benefit of the pop
psychology. I mean, _The Family Circus_ shows more long-term originality.

~~~
Aloha
Garfield exhibits the perfect banality of good entertainment.

It's not edgy, its something everyone can empathize with, it talks about
normal work-a-day problems (without too much depth), and most importantly, it
makes you think (but not too much).

It's literally entertainment, for entertainments sake - there is no higher
meaning other than to be a distraction for a couple minutes, and perhaps to be
reminding that, yes, someones life is worse than yours.

~~~
Judgmentality
[http://garfieldminusgarfield.net](http://garfieldminusgarfield.net)

