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.