Kids are impressionable. Their minds soak up information and ideas around them more quickly than we realize. A word, a phrase, a gesture – if a kids sees you doing it, it could literally impact them forever. That’s why it’s so important to monitor what they watch on TV. You know the saying “Garbage in, garbage out?” Well that definitely applies to television.
There are a few family-friendly shows out there that are still decent. They’re hidden between shows that I think most would deep as more adult. But we’re already trained to monitor what’s on TV. We won’t sit our young kids in front of an episode of Desperate Housewives or 24. I mean…there’s no need for them to watch endless lust, cheating, and violence. No need.
But now, the threat is coming from another source – commercials. Commercials are now toeing the line even more, becoming more and more inappropriate for young kids or young adults to watch. One man sucking the Doritos powder off another man’s finger? A young boy hiding behind the curtains of a young girl’s bedroom? What kind of subliminal messages are these commercials trying to give? Seriously advertisers – STOP IT!
One commercial that I took as personally wrong, was one where a girl with glasses was talking about how she didn’t have the confidence to do certain things at school. Then she gets contact lenses and BAM! she all of a sudden is more confident and can get attention from the cute boy in class. That is dirty marketing at its worst – preying on insecurities of girls who need glasses – telling them that if they get contacts, THEN they’ll be smart. THEN they’ll get attention from boys. It’s just plain wrong on so many fronts.
Television has all of these standards and ratings for their shows to let you know how family-friendly the shows are, but what about the commercials? It’s so sad that we’ve gotten to the point where we’re blasted with 30 second bursts of violence, sex, and other things that I really don’t want to see when sitting down to watch a family show.
To this, I propose two things. The first is for advertising firms and companies to pick up a bit of morality and try to sell a product based on the merits of the product (wow…now THAT is a novel idea.) But failing that, we need to start having a commercial rating system implemented. If watching a family-friendly show, then only family-friendly commercials should be allowed.
I know that I’ve not written about anything this “emotionally” before, but this is a topic that has implications beyond just you and me. It’s something that impacts our kids and will ultimately influence the future of this world.
Can I get an amen!!! Yesterday I was at my local Borders purchasing my books when I glanced up to see 2 shelves of Playboy magazines. Yep…pictures of naked women about 6 feet in front of me. And there had been a number of people with children in front of me. I asked the woman at the register if there could be a more appropriate place for them to go and her explanation was that they had moved them off the shelves because kids were getting into them. When I suggested that maybe they needed to go somewhere where they weren’t placed in front she said she would speak to the management. I didn’t even realize Borders sold Playboy.
Wow. I can’t believe they had it right in front of everyone. Shouldn’t it be hidden in the back corner somewhere where only people above 5 feet tall can see?
Shame on Borders.
And as for the post, hurrah! I agree, totally. I have a teen boy, and the Axe Body Wash commercials always get me. Does a boy need ten young girls fawning all over him to be happy? Really? I think it totally sends the wrong message, and preys on teen insecurities/misconceptions.
But there are others too…and thank you for the post. I hope it starts a movement. What better way to use our social venues? I’m sending out the Tweet share right now.
Completely agree with the Axe commercials. I have yet to see one that I think is appropriate for kids.
Which product is advertised with the boy hiding in the daughter’s room?
Interestingly enough, the commercial was for Red Robin. What boys hiding in rooms have to do with burgers and onion rings – I have no idea.
I know what you mean–it’s hard raising three Christian boys to be respectful of women when they see that on TV…
The commercial rating system needs to have the rating done by parents that understand what is implied by these commercials, like all the naughty sexual overtones so many of them have.
Agreed. A rating system is useless if the person rating the commercials has the same morals as the people making them….I wish there was a way we could flag commercials, like McAfee Site Advisor for the TV…
Again, this comes down to parents keeping their kids close and monitoring what they do and watch…Obviously, kids are going to see things that parents don’t approve of, and this is just a fact of life, but Borders is a book store, not a Children’s Book store…so, really, they have a right to place their books wherever they want. Sorry…this is my opinion. We can’t protect our kids from every single thing in the world…we can try, but it’s just not going to happen in modern times.