Is anyone else disturbed by the recent trend in advertising that

[grace0418]

seems to advocate completely overindulging/underdiscplining your kids no matter what it costs?

First it's the ads where groups of kids are completely out of control in various situations, but then someone (teacher, bus driver, etc.) opens up a dvd player and instantly the children are turned to placid little zombies completely transfixed to the screen. Of course, children should never be taught how to behave properly in public or at school, and heaven forbid they ever be forced to entertain themselves. No, just have them sit in front of a t.v. all day. That'll keep 'em quiet. Why not give them a shot of whiskey to further chill them out?

Or how about the ad where the dad tells his two kids "Good news, I signed us up for a new phone plan that'll allow you to send as many text and picture messages as you want!"? When the kids say "We already do that," the dad replies "Yes, but *now* we can afford to have Mom quit her second job." Uh...okay, to me there are so many things wrong with that I don't even know where to start. Sure, give your kids cell phones and don't teach them to have any responsibility for their actions. So when the phone bill comes and it's completely outrageous because little Tyler and Tiffany have been sending 14,000 text and picture messages, you handle the situation by forcing Mom to get a second job. And then, rather than any discipline or changes in behavior, you simply find a plan that will allow Mom to quit the second job. Whew! What a great solution! :eyes:

Even the ad (from the same campaign) that shows a mom getting upset with her daughter for sending 50 text messages a day still makes it seem better to give in rather than disciplining your child in any way. Don't get mad and take your daughter's phone away, just get our new plan that will allow your daughter to waste *ALL* of her time texting the friends she sees all day at school anyway!

Maybe I'm just getting old and cranky, but this is really starting to annoy me.

[terrya]

1. I was sort of thinking about that.

A little while ago, I did, in fact, see that commercial with the mom getting all upset with her daughter. And I was thinking to myself..."well, I never had luxuries like that when I was a kid". And that IS showing an "old and cranky" attitude. :-)

[grace0418]

6. LOL! Flibbity-floo! When I was a kid we had one phone attached to the wall with

no call waiting, caller id, voice mail or text messaging. I got in trouble for tying up the phone or calling my friends too much.

[terrya]

8. Same here.

We had a black wall phone...with a DIAL, of course. Hell, we didn't even own the damn thing...the phone company did. :-)

[conscious evolution]

10. My grandmother rented hers for 70+ years.

A rotary hard wired to the wall.
The phone #,on a card in the middle of the dial. read ADam15

[Nicole]

25. Our's was just like that on a party line!

My kids think that's funny as hell that I couldn't use my own phone because my neighbor was on her's.

[FloridaJudy]

41. My Mom was that awful person who listened in on party lines

She's sit there with her ear glued to one end of the receiver, and her palm firmly over the other. From the expression on her face you could tell she was getting an earful. She'd hang up after the neighbor did. We'd ask what was said, and she'd sniff "I never pass on gossip".

She never did, either. Drove us crazy.

I also remember when a long distance call was a BFD. You'd think folks were getting called from Alpha Centuri, the way they carried on.
"Aunt Ethyl called from Santa Cruz!" A whole 75 miles away.

I don't miss those days a bit.

[jmowreader]

48. When I was a kid we were on a four-party line!

I know you kids don't know a thing about party lines, so let me be old and cranky for a second.

For a lot of good technical reasons, the phone company couldn't give everyone in town their own phone number. Instead, they'd put more than one house on the same number. In St. Maries, Idaho, there were 900 homes and 300 residential phone numbers, plus 200 for business and government. To be sure everyone could get a phone, they put the same number in either two, three or four homes. Most people were on four-party lines; there were eight houses on a block, so it was two phone numbers per city block--a city block is one acre there. You could get a private line if you were deemed worthy by the phone company. Doctors and lawyers were deemed worthy because they took calls that required privacy. (Everyone in town there knows everyone else's business; the phone company didn't want to make it worse.) Cy Chase had two private lines in his house, but he was the state senator for Benewah County and the biggest car dealer in town (and one of the biggest crooks you'd ever want to meet) so I guess they figured he was doubly worthy.

When the phone rang, everyone on the line answered it and the caller would ask for who he wanted to speak to; the other three stations on the line were supposed to then hang up.

The phone company eventually got a switch with 2000 lines on it, and put everyone on private lines. When they did it, the person who had held the number on the party line longest was assigned the party line's number, and everyone else got a new one.

[Danger Mouse]

2. I'm young and cranky and I think...

advertising has always been like this.

[taterguy]

3. Recent?

Material goods will solve all problems

I think that's been an advertising trend for quite awhile.

[grace0418]

5. True. But this seems specifically targeted towards parents who want to avoid teaching

their children manners, good behavior, or responsibility. It's all about placating and overindulging them. It used to be that toys and gadgets were special things given to children as treats for being good. Now they're given to shut the kids up and keep them occupied. It seems like a shift to me. But maybe it's just me.

[datasuspect]

7. that's true

but they used to almost apologize for commercials.

and advertising was NEVER as universal as it is now.

i wonder if people even think anymore or if they just turn advertising ideas over and over in their heads.

[Deja Q]

4. Why not? It'll help the economy in two ways:

1. More income for the companies.

2. Companies can use the excuse Americans are indolent and stupid as reasons to offshore.

:shrug:


/cynic

[grace0418]

9. I am scared to see what is going to happen when all the spoiled, Paris-Hilton-wannabes

get out of school and try to get jobs and expect everything to be given to them. But then again, I have a coworker who walks around with a total air of entitlement (and naturally, nothing of substance to back it up) and she's been able to get upper management to believe her diva act. She's been promoted twice and has no discernible skills.

[KitchenWitch]

11. Those ads bug me, as do the ones that seem to glorify abject rudeness

I can't think of a good example at the moment. But a lot of ads have had people being rewarded for absolutely boorish behavior lately.

[Oeditpus Rex]

12. In the third one you cite

there's also the implication that kids have the edge on their parents because they speak in "code," evidenced by the mother's confusion with "TISNF" at the end.

Yeah — I'm in complete agreement with you.

But now, the question is: Does advertising shape society or reflect it?

[grace0418]

18. Excellent question, and neither answer makes me feel any better.

I guess that's why these ads bother me so much when others don't.

[Arkansas Granny]

13. I'm glad to know that it's not just me being old and cranky. I also

take exception to the ads that show the kids making a total mess and Mom just smiles and hauls out the cleaner du jour and makes everything spotless again. They never show Mom handing that cleaning product to the kid and letting them discover that it's not nearly as much fun cleaning up as making the mess in the first place. Judging from the conduct I see children engage in when they are out in public, I wonder if some parents don't see these ads as portraying normal behavior.

[grace0418]

17. It sorta seems like some do see that as normal.

Like you said, based on what I've seen as acceptable behavior in public these days that would've gotten me smacked upside the head when I was a kid.

[Kali]

14. You are right, but I could sort of relate to that text message one.

Bought one of the kids a cell for 18th b'day - changed the plan around so it looks like it will only be about $10 a month more - I of course was completely clueless about kids and text messaging - ours has always been pay per use because we never use it. Keep in mind this kid NEVER talks. You have to drag things out of him. So he goes off and on the first day there are (I AM NOT EXAGGERATING) over 750 messages!
:wtf:

I guess it was the release of some kind of dam! :rofl: Anyway he is paying for the extra charge to have unlimited text messages now.

[grace0418]

15. Yes, but there you have it. You are making *him* pay the extra charge.

That's fine. I don't see anything wrong with that (but 750 messages? Wow! LOL!). My problem really was with the notion that the parents in the commercials were either tiptoeing around the kids, getting second jobs to pay for the phone, or they were wrong for getting upset and should instead pay for additional minutes. The kids in both cases were supposed to keep doing what they pleased.

[Kali]

16. Oh hell yes and the other kid is paying for his, and the third can buy her own or wait till she

hits the next b'day too. I was relating to that second job thing for mom because that first bill after you rearange and buy equipment is always a nasty son of a gun and I just paid it. Waiting on the rebates now! (already spent the kids' payments heh heh)

[Whoa_Nelly]

19. I think the REAL message those ads are sending is...

You better make sure your kids have it all or you are a bad parent!

And I think those adds suck!

[grace0418]

22. And I think a lot of parents believe that.

Yuck.

[ghostsofgiants]

20. Bill Hicks had the right idea...

"If anyone here is in marketing, do me a favour and kill yourself."

[Oeditpus Rex]

21. Oooo!

I wanna help! :bounce:

[grace0418]

23. Well, I used to work at an ad agency and I think there is a responsible way to market

products and services. How else will people find out about it if you don't market yourself? But I think these ads represent the sleaziest, most irresponsible kind of marketing.

[fizzgig]

24. i hate those cell phone ads

my parents would have made me pay for that, no question. i don't know if kids are actually getting more spoiled, but popular culture sure is making it seem that way.

and i'm not old, just cranky

[Nicole]

26. Yes, I hate them.

Especially the one about "letting" the mom quit her second job.

[camero]

27. I stopped watching any commercials long ago

Too much anti-social behavior all around. And they make it seem cool to be that way. No wonder there's so much rudeness in society.

[pokerfan]

28. All I know...

is that those cavemen are way too sensitive!

[Deep13]

29. So, this is a NEW trend?

:shrug:

[grace0418]

34. As I said upthread, this does seem to be a new kind of manipulation. It very specifically

targets parents who are afraid to discipline their children in any way. They placate and coddle their children and this kind of advertising tells them to do just that. I'm not *that* old and yet I remember when toys and games and other rewards were just that: rewards. Even in advertising. I can't in a million years imagine my dad getting a second job so that I could have an Atari or a BMX bike or whatever what THEE thing to have was for kids my age. The suggestion by advertisers or anyone else would've had my parents laughing out loud.

[CraftyGal]

30. I have a tendency if muting the commercials or if we have recorded

a show, fast forwarding through them.

Crafty

[bedpanartist]

31. Bill Hicks said it all already...

Bill Hicks on Advertisers:

"By the way, if anyone here is in advertising or marketing, kill yourself. No, this is not a joke: kill yourself . . . I know what the marketing people are thinking now too: 'Oh. He's going for that anti-marketing dollar. That's a good market.' Oh man, I am not doing that, you fucking evil scumbags."

The advertising industry in America is behind almost all negative social trends.

I know, I used to work in the belly of the beast before I discovered my conscious.

[jobycom]

38. That's about the only thing Hicks ever said that amused me.

Most of the time I can't figure out why anyone liked him, but that was a funny routine.

[Redbear]

32. Using the TV to get kids to shut up for awhile is not a new phenomenon. n/t

[Deja Q]

33. You bet your sweet bippy it's angering.

Especially the cell phone one; I saw that yesterday night.

Some message our CORPORATE entities are sending...

Rather like that slimebag Don Imus. They treat people like shit, get fired for not being sufficiently evolved, and then sue claiming "breach of free speech!" With the worst of the lot in full support of the devolution.

[Digit]

35. Notice the ones that condone bullying...no wonder there is a problem

I usually mute the tv when the first commercial comes on.
I am totally done with the media trying to sell me crap. I won't even read the inserts in the newspaper ads.
If I want something, I will shop for it...until then, leave me alone!

More and more, I am turning off the tv and radio entirely. I don't know if I am the only one beyond the saturation point, but I sure am!

[grace0418]

36. Which are the ones that condone bullying? I (thankfully) haven't seen those.

I probably shouldn't even ask, either. I probably don't want to know. I'll just get angry.

I never listen to the radio. I plug my iPod in as soon as I get into the car. I listen to new music online or get tips from friends. The radio sucks. As for tv, I only watch specific shows. If I had a dvr, it would be easy to skip ads completely. But thanks to suck-ass Comcast we won't have dvr until we move into our next home. So I unfortunately see more ads than I ever care to see, even with my limited t.v. viewing.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

37. God forbid the kids learn to entertain themselves, or learn a skill or musical instrument.

Instead of being a couch potato playing video games.

Manual skills like cooking, sewing, fixing cars, making chain mail, swordfighting? Hobbies? Grinding a telescope mirror? Building a treehouse? Gardening? Reading? Learning a musical instrument? Learning a foreign language or even a computer language for creative programming?

Talking about current events?

In my kid's high school English class, she was taught to analyse advertising and figure out what need they were appealing to. She was learning about propaganda and its rules. Very useful stuff.

[jobycom]

39. Shrug. Seems about like the commercials when I was a kid.

Not sure how they are "recent," and though some of them bother me, it's more because of the stupidity of the writing than any message they are giving to kids or parents. Advertisers have always tried to convince parents to overspend on kids, and kids to pester their parents to buy them something. Breakfast cereals, secret spyring decoders, cell phones. :shrug: They didn't start the fire. It's been burning since the world's been turning.

[omega minimo]

40. This thread should be alerted

and sent STRAIGHT to GD!

:hi:

[tjwmason]

42. To a certain extent it's simply the same principle as the whole of advertising

which is simply an extension of commercialised culture (noting in passing that culture and cult share a common etymological root).

[FloridaJudy]

43. I hate the commercials that glorify boorish behavior

I don't normally watch TV, but I recently was exposed to a commercial that made me wince. It's the "Bud Lite" commercial in which a husband insults all of his wife's friends, in order to drive them from the house so that he and his buddy can sit in the living room drinking beer and watching the game. If I had been this loser's wife, I would have followed my friends out of the house and the next communication would have been from my lawyer. I'm pretty sure I would have been equally offended had the commercial portrayed a wife being just as rude toward her husband's friends.

Is acting like a total jerk supposed to be funny? God help us, maybe this is why we're afflicted with Imus, Rush, Billo, and their ilk, not to mention all those chatty guys on morning radio whose locker room banter never rises above a middle school level. Grow up, people. A thirty year old who stills acts like Beavis and Butthead is not cute.

And by the time they reach Rush and Imus's age, they're downright pathetic.

And that's my old and crabby rant.

[hellbound-liberal]

44. Disturbed but not surprised

The object of marketing is to sell products. I think this is best accomplished by making the disrespect and aberrant behavior that parents must endure seem totally normal (so they don't feel like bad parents), and to offer an easy solution, (i.e. buy something). I think this type of thing has been with us for a long time and will continue. As long as we are indoctrinated to believe that we can improve our lives by simply buying something rather than changing our unhealthy behavior, marketers will continue to use this ploy. I have seen many articles in recent years concerning the fact that our children are becoming increasingly spoiled into thinking that they are somehow entitled to certain things such as cell phones, Ipods, new cars on their 16th birthday, etc. and I think we have our work cut out for us in changing their mindsets. I think the 1st step is turning off our televisions or at least teaching our children to be more critical consumers of what is coming out of the "idiot box".

[YellowRubberDuckie]

45. I completely agree.

It's stupid. It's just encouraging non parents to be worse. It totally pisses me off. My kid is not getting a cell phone before they're a senior in high school...and if they do, they'll get a firefly that has three buttons on it. Sure. You can call me, your grandparents and the cops. That's it. And no text messaging. You can be on the land line at night with your friends. That is good enough. And don't even get me started about the parents who let their kids have internet in their rooms.
Duckie

[hellbound-liberal]

46. Good luck with that,YRD! I hope you succeed and that the tide begins to turn

toward your way of thinking. I personally don't see ANY need for cell phones in school. If a kid needs to call their parent they can go to the office. If they are on school property after school hours, they can go to the adult who is supervising them to make any emergency calls that are necessary. We continue to be a nation of enablers where it is much easier to succumb to our childrens' whining about what everybody else has than to require them to adhere to a higher standard of behavior. There was a song a few years ago that said something like " I look around the world and find that only stupid people are breeding..." While I don't think that that is entirely true, I do think that many people have children without realizing that you have to make some decisions that will make your children unhappy. Children used to be encouraged to learn from such disappointments but I think that, nowadays,in many instances, they are shielded by their overprotective and misguided parents. Hopefully this will change someday soon.

[Fleshdancer]

47. I see no reason to buy my kid a cell phone

I know most parents justify the purchase for "emergency reasons" but didn't we all survive our teenage years without a cell phone? If my daghter wants it that bad, she can get a job and pay for it herself.

[greatauntoftriplets]

49. I just saw the Mom with a second job commercial a bit ago....

Those kids look and act like absolute brats. I guess it is supposed to be funny, but it isn't.

:evilfrown: