Thursday, September 11, 2003
What Really Shocks on Nip/Tuck?
Enough Shocks already. Don't you think it is shocking enough to watch Nip/Tuck? The graphic gore of surgery is outrageous. The graphic sex is more outrageous. Now an adorable 17 year old teen who is having a three-way just as his Mom walks into his room, that is even more outrageous. We’re not talking about a movie or a show on HBO. This is regular TV. Well, regular Cable TV, anyway. But I have to admit what has shocked me the most in all the Nip/Tuck experience was the commercials. I didn’t even know they were allowed to advertise liquor on TV.
And I swear, these new Captain Morgan commercials are as dangerous to the kids of today as the Joe Cool Camel cigarette commercials that ensnared the last generation. Supposedly, if you can get a kid to become addicted while still a teen, you will have a life-long customer. And just to make sure the kids won’t heed their parents’ warnings, Captain Morgan turns a folk singer’s performance into a Drumming. Not real subtle, turning a Hootenanny into a Drumming.
For a very long time, I convinced myself that a free economy was the foundation of our success as a nation. Anyone motivated enough could be a successful businessperson, etc, etc, etc. But the commerce mongers have used us to stuff their pockets and now they are using our children. In the last twenty years, their greed has overtaken all sense of pride and reason. Instead of trying to survive the hard times of the pendulum swing, they are out searching for “new revenue” even if that source of new revenue is the health of our children. What difference is there between a drug dealer and a Captain Morgan sponsored show like Nip/Tuck? Too bad. It was fun being shocked. Guess I will return to the era of early to bed and early to rise.
Then I can catch the early morning news. Oh yeah, it was Fox 2 News Detroit that reported just this morning how successful the liquor industry is in its self imposed ban on television advertising and its battle to keep kids from drinking. Doesn’t saying it on TV make it so? Especially, an organization that calls itself The News, and receives its financial success from advertising dollars of businesses and is unquestionably accurate in their assessment of the lack of liquor advertising. Guess I was really dreaming when I saw those Captain Morgan commercials. Or maybe basic Cable TV gets to set its own rules, despite it being the primary source of television in 80% of all homes.
By the way -- did you know the War Department changed its name to the Defense Department at the end of World War II and now is trying to change its name to the Peace Department? Now that is Ludicrous! In a nation of headlines, sound bites, and news briefs, is it any wonder we are so easily (mis)led?
Enough Shocks already. Don't you think it is shocking enough to watch Nip/Tuck? The graphic gore of surgery is outrageous. The graphic sex is more outrageous. Now an adorable 17 year old teen who is having a three-way just as his Mom walks into his room, that is even more outrageous. We’re not talking about a movie or a show on HBO. This is regular TV. Well, regular Cable TV, anyway. But I have to admit what has shocked me the most in all the Nip/Tuck experience was the commercials. I didn’t even know they were allowed to advertise liquor on TV.
And I swear, these new Captain Morgan commercials are as dangerous to the kids of today as the Joe Cool Camel cigarette commercials that ensnared the last generation. Supposedly, if you can get a kid to become addicted while still a teen, you will have a life-long customer. And just to make sure the kids won’t heed their parents’ warnings, Captain Morgan turns a folk singer’s performance into a Drumming. Not real subtle, turning a Hootenanny into a Drumming.
For a very long time, I convinced myself that a free economy was the foundation of our success as a nation. Anyone motivated enough could be a successful businessperson, etc, etc, etc. But the commerce mongers have used us to stuff their pockets and now they are using our children. In the last twenty years, their greed has overtaken all sense of pride and reason. Instead of trying to survive the hard times of the pendulum swing, they are out searching for “new revenue” even if that source of new revenue is the health of our children. What difference is there between a drug dealer and a Captain Morgan sponsored show like Nip/Tuck? Too bad. It was fun being shocked. Guess I will return to the era of early to bed and early to rise.
Then I can catch the early morning news. Oh yeah, it was Fox 2 News Detroit that reported just this morning how successful the liquor industry is in its self imposed ban on television advertising and its battle to keep kids from drinking. Doesn’t saying it on TV make it so? Especially, an organization that calls itself The News, and receives its financial success from advertising dollars of businesses and is unquestionably accurate in their assessment of the lack of liquor advertising. Guess I was really dreaming when I saw those Captain Morgan commercials. Or maybe basic Cable TV gets to set its own rules, despite it being the primary source of television in 80% of all homes.
By the way -- did you know the War Department changed its name to the Defense Department at the end of World War II and now is trying to change its name to the Peace Department? Now that is Ludicrous! In a nation of headlines, sound bites, and news briefs, is it any wonder we are so easily (mis)led?
