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HAD IT with "those" commercials too much information
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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 146802" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>You know, NONE of these ads sounds familiar... while we do have ads for "feminine hygiene", they're either discreet or very, very funny, like the bloke who's unwrapped every tampon in every box in the house, to play with the kitten with them - "mousie, mousie..." then when his girlfriend, who is turning the place upside down looking for her tampons, sees what he's up to, he looks at her blankly and says, "What?" because he clearly has no idea what they are. She looks around, the floor is littered with unwrapped tampons and the kitten is batting them around the floor.</p><p></p><p>The ad we have for genital herpes is very discreet, but direct if you know what it's about. It would go over the heads of most kids, though. Certainly nothing graphic.</p><p></p><p>The ad I hated most is no longer on TV (thank goodness). When easy child was about 6 or 7, maybe as young as 5, AIDS was a scary topic. Our government of the time, in its infinite stupidity, decided we needed to make people more aware of the dangers. THAT isn't what was so stupid - the real idiocy was that they did nothing to inform, just put together an ad that was sheer terror. They likened AIDS to a bowling alley with groups of people standing at the end of the lane instead of pins. They showed closeups of people's faces, the terror and the despair as they watched helplessly as the bowling ball headed towards them, then they showed people flying, and bodies. Then you saw the ball being bowled again - by the most gruesome, nauseating Grim Reaper ever depicted. At this point they zoomed in for closeup - there were children, a small girl sobbing, a woman holding her baby (about the same age as easy child 2/difficult child 2 at the time) - this was a really distressing ad.</p><p>Then the ad zoomed back and you saw lane after lane, stretching on into the mist, each with its own large group of people being aimed at, by a long line of Grim Reapers all intent on their game of bowling.</p><p>The message was, "What you don't know CAN kill you," but because it showed ALL the people getting bowled over (ie 100% kill rate) and no information was given, I think it was the most negative ad campaign imaginable, on the topic.</p><p>I knew that if any of the kids saw it, they would be hysterical and it would mean nightmares for weeks. Months. easy child was old enough to warn that I didn't want her to watch the ad. I didn't even want her to hear the sound of it. But it was a "Community Service Announcement" so even on the ad-free channels, they showed this monstrosity.</p><p></p><p>Thankfully, the ad campaign was only scheduled to run for a few months. In that time the TV spent a lot of time switched off. We had a few close calls, but I did manage to protect the kids from ever seeing it. </p><p></p><p>The ad men who made this are still claiming to be proud of what they did. They are capable of making some really clever ads, and this one really did make people pay attention, but it did nothing to inform people. All it did was fuel even more homophobic attacks.</p><p></p><p>So if you're ever watching one of those "Ads Around the World" TV shows and they say they're going to show the "Grim Reaper" ad from Australia, this'll be it.</p><p></p><p>I'd rather haemorrhoids any day.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 146802, member: 1991"] You know, NONE of these ads sounds familiar... while we do have ads for "feminine hygiene", they're either discreet or very, very funny, like the bloke who's unwrapped every tampon in every box in the house, to play with the kitten with them - "mousie, mousie..." then when his girlfriend, who is turning the place upside down looking for her tampons, sees what he's up to, he looks at her blankly and says, "What?" because he clearly has no idea what they are. She looks around, the floor is littered with unwrapped tampons and the kitten is batting them around the floor. The ad we have for genital herpes is very discreet, but direct if you know what it's about. It would go over the heads of most kids, though. Certainly nothing graphic. The ad I hated most is no longer on TV (thank goodness). When easy child was about 6 or 7, maybe as young as 5, AIDS was a scary topic. Our government of the time, in its infinite stupidity, decided we needed to make people more aware of the dangers. THAT isn't what was so stupid - the real idiocy was that they did nothing to inform, just put together an ad that was sheer terror. They likened AIDS to a bowling alley with groups of people standing at the end of the lane instead of pins. They showed closeups of people's faces, the terror and the despair as they watched helplessly as the bowling ball headed towards them, then they showed people flying, and bodies. Then you saw the ball being bowled again - by the most gruesome, nauseating Grim Reaper ever depicted. At this point they zoomed in for closeup - there were children, a small girl sobbing, a woman holding her baby (about the same age as easy child 2/difficult child 2 at the time) - this was a really distressing ad. Then the ad zoomed back and you saw lane after lane, stretching on into the mist, each with its own large group of people being aimed at, by a long line of Grim Reapers all intent on their game of bowling. The message was, "What you don't know CAN kill you," but because it showed ALL the people getting bowled over (ie 100% kill rate) and no information was given, I think it was the most negative ad campaign imaginable, on the topic. I knew that if any of the kids saw it, they would be hysterical and it would mean nightmares for weeks. Months. easy child was old enough to warn that I didn't want her to watch the ad. I didn't even want her to hear the sound of it. But it was a "Community Service Announcement" so even on the ad-free channels, they showed this monstrosity. Thankfully, the ad campaign was only scheduled to run for a few months. In that time the TV spent a lot of time switched off. We had a few close calls, but I did manage to protect the kids from ever seeing it. The ad men who made this are still claiming to be proud of what they did. They are capable of making some really clever ads, and this one really did make people pay attention, but it did nothing to inform people. All it did was fuel even more homophobic attacks. So if you're ever watching one of those "Ads Around the World" TV shows and they say they're going to show the "Grim Reaper" ad from Australia, this'll be it. I'd rather haemorrhoids any day. Marg [/QUOTE]
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HAD IT with "those" commercials too much information
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