Don't Call This Kid Angel

In a commercial for a small SUV, one car pulls up alongside another. From the back seat, one child says, “Hey Mike, What’s up?”  Mike replies, “They’ve been singing the same song for the last three hours,” as his parents belt out Just call me angel of the morning, baby. Both kids look disbelieving and shake their heads knowingly, stopping just short of an eye roll. Mike mouths, help me. First child shrugs, rolls up his window, puts on head phones and turns his attention to the car’s DVD player as he rides away.  In voice over, child narrates, “That was painful to watch.”

No kidding. It’s painful to watch a commercial for a car that appears to turn children into snotty and materialistic tweens. Consider what a child could take away from this ad. (1) It’s permissible to be disrespectful of parents -- one’s own and those of other children. (2) It’s permissible to exit a conversation by looking askance and putting on headphones. And we wonder why children show so much “attitude;” why they are seven going on seventeen; why there are “mean girls” and bullies.

So, no. We won't be buying that car any time soon. However, judging by the You Tube comments like "Hey, who sings that song?" it's doing pretty well for Juice Newton.

9 comments:

Lisa Rich said...

My husband and children think this commercial is hysterical. I think the kid is an obnoxious spoiled brat and I can't stand the commercial.

Side Note: if my kids are acting up in the car, nothing gets them to behave faster than me blasting the Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion Soundtrack.

Alex Dumortier said...

There has been a rather bizarre toppling of the traditional order. Nowadays, it is parents who seek out the approval of their children; previously, it was children who sought to please their parents. Adults have lost all confidence in their role as parents; they now believe that managing a child's disposition such that every whim is catered to is the benchmark of good parenting!

I think part of this phenomenon is a result of working mothers who have not managed to become comfortable with their role and somehow feel guilty for not being stay-at-home mothers. Thus, they make a silent pact with their children, in which they trade the time they spend at work against a promise to accede to their childrens' every wish when they are with them. It is not the children who should know better!

But it is not just working mothers who are at fault; men have done nothing to create achieve a healthy equilibrium within the family that is consistent with the relatively new model of dual earners. Furthermore, this is just one hypothesis, I'm sure there are many other possible explanations.

Anonymous said...

I am so glad to read that I am not the only person that wants to slap those headphones off that kid.

Should I really buy a $50,000 car so my kid won't be embarrassed? Good Grief.

Anonymous said...

I'm also glad to know that I'm not the only mother offended by the mass media's portrayal of children--the snappy one-liners, the sarcastic comments, the disrespect, all presented as a "model" for today's kids. This is why in our house, we only watch PBS (no commercials). If my kids just have to see "Dora the Explorer" or a similar, non-PBS kids show, we watch it on DVD--no commercials!

EHP said...

Thanks for all your thoughts, everyone.

I guess we could all unite as "uncool" parents.

Anonymous said...

I too hate that commercial. Bratty kid, and kids watch too much tv in the first place without watching videos in the car for a short trip. We have a video player in the car, but I only use it occasionally on long trips, and not for the whole trip.

Glad it is doing well for Juice Newton though.

Anonymous said...

OMG! I was watching TV with my husband when that commercial came on, and he said, "so if I buy that car, will it make my kid an asshole?"

Anonymous said...

It is a commerical, nothing more if you are that concerned about a commerical defining your child when they are not old enough to buy one. There is a bigger issue in your life. I wish there was a DVD player in or car as a child on those longer family trips. Honestly I said, I feel sorry for the child.

Edmund said...

Just put television away from kids. I don't want to get them be commercialized by TV commerical.

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