There is a law of some sort that requires truth in advertising, which means every advertisement we see on television, hear on the radio and read in newspapers is absolutely true (wink, wink).
With that in mind, there are two TV commercials that have recently driven me to cringe.
First, I will say that I’ve been watching far too much television, thanks to the coronavirus mess. It’s the last layer of protection against giving up completely and sacrificing myself to the Facebook and internet good-for-nothings. My world is complicated enough without forcing myself to squint into my phone for hours at a time.
So I watch television.
Did you know that all day on Saturdays, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., the MeTV channel (a Fox affiliate) shows old-timey westerns? It’s awesome. From Bat Masterson to Trackdown to The Big Valley to Gunsmoke to Bonanza to Rawhide to The Rifleman and more — it’s 11 hours of bliss.
On top of that, I’ve found myself on the edge of my couch watching things like The Alienist series; the Yellowstone series; the Renovation Island series; way too much Diners, Drive-ins & Dives; and every Home Town episode I can find. I even caught myself watching an episode of Catfish — but quickly put a stop to that nonsense.
I’m off track.
OK, so I’ve started to see two commercials — one for Kraft macaroni and cheese, one for Ore-Ida fries — that point out just how parenting has changed … for the worse.
The gist of each commercial focuses on a young’un who defies a parental unit by stubbornly refusing to eat their vegetables. We’ve all probably been on both sides of this situation.
In my day as a young’un, my parents employed the “you’ll sit there until you eat them, even if it’s your breakfast” kind of threat. I recall only calling their bluff once and I will tell you that cold spinach is not good … and I got that message quickly.
Some years later, I began hearing stories of parents who would give their children a “time out” for not eating their vegetables. This entailed the child being sent to sit in a corner, on the stairs or to their bedroom to “think about” eating their vegetables, but rarely meant the child actually had to eat them.
Later on, parents got the brilliant idea — no doubt encouraged by advertising — that hiding the vegetables under a flood of melted cheese could entice a young’un into eating the broccoli or whatever. I think children are smarter than that. Cheese good, the green stuff under it bad.
More recently, parents have taken a new tact, and this is the problem.
In the Ore-Ida commercial, a child refuses to eat her broccoli … to the point of shoving her plate away each time her father pushes it in front of her. The solution for this father? Bribe the child with Ore-Ida fries — one bite of broccoli earns three fries. Really? Isn’t that like paying a child to brush their teeth?
In the Kraft commercial, a mom is seen chasing a young’un through the house saying “One more bite” and the child responding with “No!” The solution for the mom? Make a fresh batch of Kraft macaroni and cheese. Problem solved … kid wins.
In my day as a young’un, there would have been some seriously effective parenting performed.
In the time-out era, there would have been some silly parenting done.
In the flooding with cheese era, there would have been unsuccessful parenting attempted.
And in the current era, as depicted by Ore-Ida and Kraft, there is simply no parenting being done. In fact, it just gives credibility to the saying, “the inmates are running the asylum.”
I sure can’t wait for baseball to start. Yankees at Nationals, July 23. Woot!
W. Curt Vincent can be reached at 910-506-3023 or [email protected].
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