1986, the date when the next generation began to slide into consumerism and lose sight of the horrors of ideology...
You ever think we really missed a step by teaching the Greek view of "being an excellent liar" to the generation who grew up around Trump?
In other words: the joke of Ferris' parent's being naive or clueless is based on the strange progression to the the postmodern, where they can be fooled by an image because it's more real to them.