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Commercials get a bit less family friendly
—Posted by Gregory Solman |
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May 30, 2007 | Permalink |
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Holy crap...Kefauver Commission? You, my friend, are now the king of obscure references.
Posted by: Dennis Miller | May 30, 2007 10:09:40 AM
when were the spots run and on what channels? i don't see a problem if it was after prime time or not during a 'family' oriented program.
Posted by: t | May 30, 2007 10:20:27 AM
I'm in California, so it's possible that some of the spots are running in late hours back east but not late here at all. But this is not an insignificant population to consider, I might add, to those of you with The New Yorker view of the country. But KY Jelly for better sex during The Breakfast Club is not appropriate at any hour, much less Saturday morning; porn advertising is never appropriate, in my prudential judgment; and with all the time shifting and TiVOing and VCRing that goes on, I don't think you can make a case that late-night media buys have any prophylactic effect.
And, thanks, Dennis, for the kind words. But everyone knows that you will always be the Henry VIII to my James Francis Edward Stuart!
Posted by: Gregory Solman | May 30, 2007 6:07:02 PM
ky jelly ads are not appropriate? this seems a bit overly prudish to me. i can at least understand the 'no porn ads' pov, although i disagree with it. it's quite easy to buy media time that is appropriate. and if parents have an issue with TIVO and the like, then maybe the kids shouldn't have access to it.
Posted by: t | May 30, 2007 9:31:57 PM
"Overly prudish?"
t, c'mon. 9 a.m. Saturday morning. My 4- and 6-year-olds are watching cartoons. I'm ten feet away in the kitchen, making waffles. A commercial comes on. They grab the remote, click through to Cartoon Network. And along the way, land on USA (one channel over). A KY spot comes on. And there I am, waffles in hand, trying to explain why sometimes mommy and daddy need a lubricant before engaging in sexual intercourse?
Gimme a break.
Posted by: Duane | May 30, 2007 9:54:07 PM
i never said ky ads should be running at 9am in the morning. i just don't think they are particularly offensive and have their place on appropriate programming. those ads are pretty vague and i doubt a young child would know what the product is about just from watching the commercial. if they ask, you could explain that it's an adult product, not for them to know about yet.
and maybe a 6 year old shouldn't have control of the remote anyway.
Posted by: t | May 31, 2007 12:47:33 PM
t,
Okay, now I'm smiling. You don't have kids, do you? Believe it or not, they can find the remote no matter where you put it (unless you lock it up with your guns or liquor between each use). And guess what –- sans remote, they can even change the channels using THEIR FINGERS and THE TV BUTTONS! Shocking, I know.
My point is, 20-something, sexually expressive hip ad guys and gals don't own TV any more than my six year old does. All we ask is that you share nice with him, at least on basic cable between the hours of 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.
If he wants to change from SpongeBob to Animal Planet on a Saturday morning, well, I don't think it's too much to ask that he can do that himself.
Posted by: Duane | May 31, 2007 3:11:04 PM
no i don't have kids. but i'm not 20-something either. and i'm not disagreeing that ads like ky shouldn't have an appropriate media buy. the point is, it seems a lot of parents put blame on advertisers and tv programmers and accept none of it themselves. i realize that you can't watch every moment of your child's time, but you can make an effort to control their behavior in front of the tv. and i realize that they can push buttons on the tv itself, but in most cases, this would not actually change the channel, given the way cable or satellite is set up. you'd just end up with static or dead air.
fact is, it's not the end of the world if your kid happens by a ky ad. a porn ad, yes, but i've been referencing this ky ad because that was the original poster's reference. they are pretty modest in their language and i don't really think most kids would understand the message. and if they do, they've obviously already gotten that message from somewhere else. and at the end of the day, you deal with it. you decided to have children, sometimes you have to have uncomfortable conversations with them. that's life.
Posted by: t | May 31, 2007 4:43:31 PM
t,
You might be surprised how much we agree here. And I'm not trying to draw you into a fight. But there is usually a fundamental difference in the way those without kids tend to approach these issues, vs. those with kids. The former is typically more blasé, the latter more protective. Funny thing is, no matter how protective those of us in the parent camp get, those in the "no big deal" crowd only accuse us of not being watchful enough. You tell us to get even more protective, for Pete's sake. "Take away the remote! Disable the channel buttons!"
Well, here's a thought – don't run KY spots on Saturday morning. (That responsibility / blame street runs both ways, you know.)
t, my older kids are 4 and 6. They are only allowed to watch Nickelodeon, PBS, Cartoon Network (daytime) and Animal Planet (daytime). A parent is with them 99% of the time when the tube is on. And STILL we stumble across unsuitable stuff. (I don't know what kind of TV you have, but the buttons on mine work just fine, and my one-year old can change stations by himself, not getting static or dead air. $h!t happens.)
But even without the random one-year-old mishap, hazards lurk. We're watching The Fairly Oddparents on 24, they flip to 26 for Animal Bloopers and, along the way, stop on 25 to catch a funny Skittles commercial. Next thing you know (if we're using the anecdote from above), BAM! The ol' sex jelly ad comes up. At 9 a.m. on Saturday morning.
I'm to take the blame for that one?
Yeah, the spot is pretty tame when you compare it to porn, but neither are my kids idiots. What they don't get now, they will soon enough. I'd rather it not be with KY's help, or in KY's context.
To your point, my job is to have those conversations. You're absolutely right. I just hoped that, *maybe*, I could talk to my son about sex on my time (say, when he's the ripe old age of seven) and against a backdrop that's a little more Mommy & Daddy than, say, the average AXE commercial.
I don't think that's too much to ask, but every year it gets harder, for the sake of "pushing the envelope." Which I'm typically for, but there have to be lines. KY ads on Saturday morning crosses them.
KY on cartoon day, "Hostel" billboards on the way to the library, condom shops in the strip mall next to Baskin Robbins ... t, if you're over thirty, I'm betting this isn't the way you grew up. Why can't my kids have what we had?
Frankly, I think the main problem is most adults (and advertisers) these days are acting like kids, and have forgotten they share the public domain with the grade school crowd.
Dismounting soapbox now.
Posted by: Duane | May 31, 2007 6:50:53 PM
you are right, we are probably in agreement on most of these issues. i completely agree that 9am is not an appropriate time for the ky ads. and yes, i do probably have a more liberal attitude because i don't have kids. the key is finding a balance between protecting kids and avoiding outright censorship. and it is often a fine line. my understanding was that the original post said ky ads are not appropriate for any hour, which i disagee with. bottom line is that advertisers and networks are guilty of pushing the envelope too far at times and parents can also be guilty of overreacting on occasion. i'm a pretty staunch first ammendment guy, so anything that even feels like censorship can get me on my own soapbox. but i do get where you're coming from as well.
Posted by: t | Jun 1, 2007 10:14:24 AM
t,
I'm with you but for one thing: keeping an ad off the air is NOT censorship. The First Amendment applies to an individual's right to free speech, not a corporation's right to airtime. The good people at KY can say what they want when they want, as individuals in the public arena. But the Constitution does not protect their "right" to air material, offensive or otherwise, on public airwaves.
It's a subtle difference, I think, but an important one. "Speech" does not equal "distribution of message." The blurring of that line gets a lot of people hot under the collar needlessly (us included).
Posted by: Duane | Jun 4, 2007 8:27:33 PM
My kids were watching "That's So Raven" when an ad came on about male enhancement, including a discussion about increasing sexual pleasure and performance. Is anyone who's watching "That's So Raven" going to buy that stuff? My kids are 12, 13 and 5 year old girls. The other day they had male friends, same ages, over, and they tried to loudly talk through a "feminine hygiene" commercial on the Disney Channel, but it didn't work. The girls were totally embarrassed. People blame parents and say they don't get involved but that's too easy an excuse for nasty programming. Screaming "no censorship", is reverse censorship in that it takes control away from parents. We're told to block bad shows but how do we block commercials in "good" shows? Adults are the targeted audience so how would it hurt to block these ads from children's TV at times when children watch TV? It would save money for the advertisers who are buying air time for an audience that obviously won't buy the product, and it would protect children. Who's hurt by that? If an adult would buy such a product and are watching morning TV, they'll likely still see the ad later on another channel. Everyone wins.
Posted by: DJudy | Jul 9, 2007 5:26:34 PM
hey iam 16 years old and i believe that it is not right to have those commercials .. specialy the KY jelly they r getting to nasty .. one min u seein them on the bed then shes up in the mountains yellin then there back in bed all messed up .. thats not right at all then they r always repeating the natural male enhancements.. and i think u can understand already wats wrong wit dat.
i just hope they kinda lay off for awhile an not be so out there an nasty
Posted by: B | May 18, 2009 1:25:12 PM
