On Products' Icky Impressions

I didn't see the half-time show last night; to be honest, I only watched the last six minutes of the game. Even within that brief viewing, however, I was struck by the disturbing undertone of some of the commercials, and my wife assured me that others had been much worse.

In his piece about the dreadful material that permeated the televising of the football game, Tom Shales mentions a commercial for that Van Helsing movie. I'm not sure what channel we were watching, but around dinnertime, that commercial came on the television, and I noticed that my two-year-old daughter had stopped running around and stood staring. I hesitated for a moment to get out of my seat and grab the remote, thinking that, as is usually the case, the extreme violence of that initial grabbing moment would give way to non-violent plot points, or at least to some less shocking action. That didn't happen.

The television advertising world, it would seem, has lost all concern for the sensibilities of its viewers. One would think that self-interest would compel companies to avoid having their products associated with uncomfortable feelings. In the case of movie commercials, one would expect this same dynamic to affect the decisions of a network.

Frankly, I'm at a loss to explain it. I will, however, hazard the suggestion that the business folks are rapidly giving their marketing departments enough rope to hang the companies. All involved have seemed to assume that they can — must — continue to push the boundaries of taste in order to achieve the same effect, whatever that effect is. I simply believe that people will not acclimate forever and will, if not actively object, begin changing the channel.

I'm certainly going to keep the remote closer at hand, and I'm increasingly inclined to hit the Off button.

ADDENDUM:
On a related note: I bet the Bush administration is relieved that it didn't slate its NEA budget increase announcement for this week!