Karen Foley
Lynn Raye Harris
Ellen Hartman
Diana Holquist
Samantha Hunter
Shirley Jump
Dee Tenorio
Jeannie Watt
Over the Top Advertising?
I have friends who use TIVO or Comcast to avoid having to watch television commercials. I'll be the first to admit that during a great movie, commercials can be a total pain in the patootie, and sometimes it really does seem like you spend more time watching advertisements than you do the actual movie. Normally, I don't pay too much attention to the ads, but this past week, I've seen two Levi's jean commercials that just made my jaw drop.
The first one, called Secrets and Lies shows two college-aged kids making their way up an interior stairwell of an apartment building, systematically divesting each other of clothing, while also confessing to little white lies they've apparently told each other during the evening. The guy says,"I'm not really in a band...." and the girl makes a confession that she's not really with a label. She opens a door to a darkened apartment and the camera zooms in on their hands as they unbutton their jeans. They keep talking and then they totally attack each other, complete with hitched breathing, hands everywhere, and he tells her that he lives in his car. She then says "This isn't really my apartment..." The guy flips on the lights to see they're surrounded by family photos of people she can't possibly be related to, and then solves the problem by turning the lights out again.
The second commerical is also a Levi's ad, called The First Time. Two teens, a boy and a girl about sixteen, are unbuttoning their pants. They're giving each other shy, sly looks and the girl asks, "You've never done this before, right?" The boy laughs self-consciously and says, "I'm scared." The camera zooms in on their hands as they each unbotton their jeans all the way. The kids smile at each other, the pants start to come off, then the kids hold hands and jump off a dock in their underwear.
I was watching these ads with my 11-year old daughter, who was snickering all the way through. I am definitely not a prude, but I was shocked by these ads, especially the second one, since the entire scenario leads you to believe these kids are headed in a certain direction with the looks and the laughs and the comments. It wasn't so much the fact that the ads are blatantly sexy, or that the first one promotes sex with a stranger, but that they're showing these ads during prime kid-viewing time, on children's channels. As a parent, I've had many discussions with my 14-year old daughter about not engaging in meaningless sex (or, in her case, any sex at all!). To have ads like these pop up during The Wizards of Waverly Place is, in my opinion just too much.
Have you seen the commercials? If so, what do you think about them? What do you think about airing them during the time when kids come home from school, and what kind of message do you think they send? Am I overreacting? I'll be the first to admit that I love watching the Superbowl in part because of the hysterical commercials. But I found these to be a little over the top, although I guess if I'm blogging about them, then the ads have done their job, right? At least I won't forget them, LOL. Maybe it's time for TIVO!
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Love TiVo
We've had TiVo for 2 years, and I can't imagine living without it at this point. One of the few new technologies that really does make life more pleasant and easy. Past missing commercials, we never miss our shows any more, and can watch them when we like, don't have to stress if the phone rings while we're watching, etc.
I haven't seen those commercials (because we never watch commercials, LOL), though they seem really creative, but then I can see why you'd worry, except that I think kids are more savvy, for better or worse, from school, etc -- the commercials seem relatively innocent, in context, next to what they might hear about at school. Maybe better to let them see it, then talk about it, as you obviously do. I've learned that there's very little chance of shielding kids from exposure to things in the world, but we can teach them how to think about it.
Sam
Absolutely, Sam. We do a
Absolutely, Sam. We do a lot of talking, although I think it'll be another year or two before my younger one is actually mature enough to talk about this without a debilitating fit of the giggles, or getting so embarrassed she leaves the room with her hands pressed over her ears (she really does this).
Hey Karen--When I go to
Hey Karen--When I go to trainings on Adolescent Sexuality, one of the biggest concerns is counteracting the messages kids get from the media. Commercials like the ones you mention are creative and fun to watch--when the people watching them are aware of all the consequences of casual sex.
Kids aren't because kids are bullet proof. They act from a more primitive part of their brain than adults do until their frontal lobe fully develops between the ages of 18-20. Their limbic system--pleasure/emotion/feeling part of their brain--is fully functioning and urging them to go out and have fun...nothing will happen... The part that considers and processes consequences is not fully functioning. That is why I hate ads like this. Nothing bad happens--no disease, no unwanted pregnancy--and kids are encouraged to act because, hey, if it's on a commercial, it's got to safe, right?
Stepping off my soapbox, now. :)
Yes, Jeannie, exactly. The
Yes, Jeannie, exactly. The kids get enough peer pressure at school without the advertisers making it seem like it's okay and acceptable to a) hook up with a stranger or b) strip down to your skivvies and jump into deep waters without your mother being right there to save you, LOL!
I'm going to be the odd man out...or the gadlfy...
or the pain in the backside, however you want to see it. *G*
I think generations of kids have been, and probably will continue to do, these things regardless of commercials...they were doing them well before the commercials existed...
I think I have to take that stand because I think kids are smarter than we think, and also more determined to do what they want, and the only thing we really can do is try to raise them so they will make smarter choices.
Also, I think a lot of folks "out there" would use exactly these arguments against our books, which are available in grocery stores and Walmart (and who among us hasn't raided our mother's bedstands when we were kids to read their romances??? LOL) which, I'm sure, many teenagers do read. Are we influencing this bad behavior, inducing them to have sex, etc?
I don't think we can single out any particular media, and it's a dangerous slope to say these things shouldn't be out there, because there are folks out there saying we shouldn't be there either...
Sam
Sam--you're probably
Sam--you're probably thinking of high school kids and older adolescents. I'm thinking of kids who think it's fine to be sexually active at the ages of 11-13. That's scary and it's more common than a lot of people believe. And those are the kids that get the feeling that it's ok from these kinds of commercials.
Well
I wasn't thinking of any age in particular, actually, but I also think the situation of what leads young kids to being more sexually active is more complex -- they are literally surrounded with sex these days, and this commercial is just one example. It's also a part of music, movies, books, news...online life. It's everywhere. The whole "it's cool to be pregnant" thing with the celebrities that they said led to the the teenagers getting pregnant as a group on purpose! Yikes. Then look at what kids see when they stand with mom and dad in the grocery line, the Cosmo and Enquirer covers. Redbook, etc. The way clothes are made to be sexy for kids, with writing on their butts that draws attention where it shouldn't and less modest clothing than a 8 year old should wear, etc. Not to mention what is in TV shows, in magazines and all the stuff about bodies, sex, fashion and body image. The new Repub VP's 17 year old daughter all over the news, etc.
But I'll go to the mat for its right to be there. Same for the commercials. I can't support any kind of censorship, in any form. I am maybe sensitive to this as a Blaze author, there are people who would feel the same way about their tweens seeing my book covers on the shelf, etc. Maybe even yours.
On the other hand, all of this provides an opportunity for parents to really talk to their kids and hopefully they will have healthy, happy sex lives that are not as full of repressed traumas as people had to deal with in the past. Nothing is perfect, but given my choice, I'd rather have it out there than hidden away. At least when it's out there, we can deal with it.
I agree that we have to work on how to help kids understand or how to process all of that info, or to individually limit their exposure through things like TiVo or simply not allowing them to watch or read certain things (though then I am also convinced they will seek it out, or see it at friends' houses, etc). Being a parent is all the harder, for sure. I hate violence, personally, but I tried to limit my son's exposure to horror movies and violent TV, etc -- until he watched it at his friend's house, his father's, etc and there really wasn't anything I could do, and I probably made it more attractive by limiting it, in a way, and I lost the chance to put it in context for him.
I think the best parents can do is try hard to instill the right values, and hope the kids listen, because, the potential VP's daughter being a prime example, the kids will still go out and do what they do...
Sam
I'm not at all in favor of
I'm not at all in favor of censorship and these commercials do have a right to be there. (In fact, I enjoy racy commercials.)
Maybe I didn't state things right--my trainings is in how to counteract media messages by teaching kids to think critically--not in how to censor the commercials or stop their existence. That said, I am deeply in favor of placing commercials with an edge in shows, and at times, where younger kids aren't as likely to be watching. There are no guarantees younger kids won't be watching, of course, but still...
In reality, though, what I want doesn't matter. It's what consumers want. If sales of jeans skyrocket due to these commercials, we'll see more of the same. If they don't, we won't. The dollar talks.
I think we agree
In fact, maybe all of us do. ;) I get touchy on the censorship thing, because it's so easy to say what we don't like shouldn't exist... Even conservatives who want to tell me what I shouldn't be able to see or do have a right to their position and opinion. ;) Painful irony that we allow them their views while they want to censor ours... ;)
And yes, what the kids/people are buying/watching is what drives these trends... If enough people didn't want to see everyone's stupid lives dragged though the mud then we wouldn't see it, but too many people want to see it.
I'm sorry for taking Karen's post off on this political jag *G* and hope I haven't scared anyone off... though I have to say, I am probably in the minority because I thought the commercials sounded kind of fun and clever, and I never worried too much about hiding sex from my son, I was more focused on curbing exposure to violence, but you know how that went... Though he's not a violent kid. And he does have a girlfriend, so I guess maybe it worked out after all, more or less. ;)
Personally I love it that we can do this here -- it's like the Supers list, where we can dump it all out there and have a great discussion!
Sam
You said it, Sam. I enjoy a
You said it, Sam. I enjoy a lively debate. This was interesting and better yet, it made me think. Sometimes we need shaken up a little, you know?
Oy.
I haven't seen these commercials and it is probably a good thing!! I don't have TiVo because we really don't watch much TV....and we usually use the "MUTE" button during commercials when we do have the tube on. These would have pushed me, too!! What are they trying to advertise...how easy it is to unbutton your pants? Eek. I like creative advertising, and while things like this may get me to remember the product it will not get me to buy it. In fact, it will do the opposite. Even if I had been inclined to purchase it before, I won't now. Maybe if they were adults and they were showing late at night? I don't know...
Cathy, I always have the
Cathy, I always have the remote close by so that I can mute the commercials, since they seem very loud in comparison to whatever show I'm watching. I enjoy commercials that are creative and appealing, and I agree with Sam that these could be considered humorous, but not with my 11-year old watching and sniggering behind her hand. I think the thing that surprised me most about the second commercial was how very young these kids looked, and how much sexual innuendo they put into the message.
I've seen
the second one and was happy that my son (almost 17) wasn't in the room with me. I did see it later at night. Not saying that makes it any less Out There but he wasn't up to see it.
I think there have always been ads that push the envelope. They don't all involve sex either.
Many of the ads for personal hygiene or sexual aids (Viagra, Cialis, etc) are more than I want/need to know about. And they're often shown during dinner time.
I'm becoming a prude in my older age!
ani
Ani, I think I may be a
Ani, I think I may be a latent prude, too, LOL! I distinctly recall one of the Viagra commercials shows a couple washing dishes together and getting frisky, and then there is a very suggestive image of him holding the spray nozzle, with water shooting everywhere! Even my 14-year old got that not-so-subtle message!
The ones that gross me out
are the ones about needing heavier toilet paper. That just makes me cover my ears!
And those mucinex commercials with the mucous that looks like people? Ewwwww!!
Me, three!
Or the one with the couple that gets interrupted by the college daughter with dirty laundry? Makes me wonder just how the stuff works and how long it lasts and the poor man....and then I catch myself because I really don't think I want to know! LOL!
Uh...
those would make me a little uncomfortable--what bothers me is that they're targeting kids. It would be clever/funny if they were aiming for an older audience, but those ideas aren't something that I want pushed at my kids. And I know, they may be exposed to them elsewhere, but hooray for TiVo so that it'll be less of that at home then. Aack!
I have never used Tivo.
I have never used Tivo. Haven't seen the Levi ads either, but from your description, I would not want my grandchildren to see them.
Ick!
Haven't seen those commercials, Karen, but I am so grossed out by so many things that are on TV these days. It's sex this and sex that. My 13-year-old daughter is so IMMUNE to the word. It's like lalalala just another person talking about sex. I'm no prude either, but it gets to be ridiculous. I love my TiVo for many other reasons! Never miss an episode of Gray's. Hey, I have my needs!
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