Lesson plan

Blipvert

A blipvert is a very brief television advertisement, lasting one second. The word is a portmanteau of blip, a brief sound, and advertisement. The term and concept were used in the 1985 film Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future and in Blipverts, the first episode of the 1987 science fiction television show Max Headroom. In the film and TV show, "blipverts" were new high-speed, concentrated, high-intensity television commercials lasting about three seconds. Their purpose was to prevent the channel-switching that may occur during standard-length commercials, but they had the side-effect of making some viewers explode. They were invented as a MacGuffin to drive the plot.

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Article summary

A blipvert is a very brief television advertisement, lasting one second. The word is a portmanteau of blip, a brief sound, and advertisement. The term and concept were used in the 1985 film Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future and in Blipverts, the first episode of the 1987 science fiction television show Max Headroom. In the film and TV show, "blipverts" were new high-speed, concentrated, high-intensity television commercials lasting about three seconds. Their purpose was to prevent the channel-switching that may occur during standard-length commercials, but they had the side-effect of making some viewers explode. They were invented as a MacGuffin to drive the plot.

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Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  3. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.