Commercials

I’ve always been intrigued by the lure of commercials. Over the years, I’ve found them to often be more interesting than some of the shows that they support. Now, I get to view them through little eyes and the effect is pretty stunning.

Here are a couple of observations and comments from the cheap seats (a.k.a., my family room couch).

1. I don’t understand the whole bathtub thing and Cialis. And I get that men watch football … but so do women and small children. Do we really need to viva Viagra at every commercial? Really?
2. Shows with parental guidance recommendations and rated R movies are shown at times and places that keep little eyes from seeing, right? So, naturally, the brilliant thing to do is advertise them during family programming. (Slight disclaimer here … family programming at our house might be a bit off because Little Man really likes the engineering shows on The Discovery Channel.)
3. The Alltel commercials really lost something with the departure of the original “Sprint guy” … they need to get him back.
4. We are big Noggin fans because there are NO commercials!
5. We must watch a lot of shows that appeal to a male demographic because I see very few commercials targeting me!

I could go on all day. I won’t because at some point you’ll say, “Thus is 15 minutes of my life I’m not going to get back!” Let me just say this. As much as we complain, they work. Wanna know how I know? Let me provide you with a few recent exchanges…

Little Man (walking around inspecting the carpet): Mom, see this dark spot? … and this one? … and that one over there?

Me:: Yep, I see them. I think they are shadows.

Little Man: No. They are dirt spots. We need to get a Woolite Rug Stick so we can clean them up.

And then there’s my current favorite . Before I go on, you need to know that Little Man can give you the make (and often model) of a vehicle from quite a distance. Oh, and it’s best just to go with him on what he says. Husband argued with him this morning and was wrong. It’s humiliating. But I digress…

Husband: (Reading the paper…)

Little Man (pointing to a car ad): Dad, that’s America’s best truck.

Husband: How did you know that. Did you read the words?

Little Man: It says A-mer-i-ca’s best truck.

Husband: It does not.

Little Man (with extreme patience): Dad, the TV just told me that the Chevy Silverado is America’s best truck. That’s a Chevy Silverado.

I wonder if the Chevy folks would like to make a commercial about going to bed without whining and picking up your toys? Now, that I could really buy into!!!!