Strangeness in a TV commercial

Cafe Society
1

Yesterday I saw a TV commercial that has me a little perplexed.

It starts out with a little boy in his PJs, playing with a blanket, and saying “I want a babysitter who won’t make me take naps.” Then there’s a little girl saying “No naps!”

It’s a commercial for care.com. One thing they show is that you can search for sitters by ZIP code. They show the web page with a ZIP code, and someone typing one in. All well and good.

But they type in MY ZIP code! I find that really odd. I don’t live in a place that’s so special that it would get any special attention. You’d figure that they’d use one in New York or LA.

Does the technology exist that they can show the ZIP code of wherever the receiving TV set is?

2

Certainly not if it’s a “national” commercial, as how would they know the ZIP Codes of people watching OTA?

My guess is, it’s a commercial for a national business where they make enough commercials with different ZIP Codes to go around. Commercial time sold by local cable companies can be quite localized.

3

A little bit of research turned up more info. I saw another commercial on YouTube, and it had a nearby ZIP code. It turns out that they are headquartered near here. It looks like they’re using ZIP codes from around the area.