The Great American Double Standard

When did we start rewarding people who suck? Here's a name everyone remembers... William Hung. He's famous for sucking.

As I sit here watching football, I watched a commercial for the new season of American Idol. Let me just say this and get it out of the way... I want to stab Simon Cowell in the eye with a plastic picnic spork. There. I feel better now.

Here's a double standard for you. We are encouraged to laugh and point at people who are following their dream of being famous singers, yet our children are discouraged in school from cheering for their own classmates in sporting events. Why? Because it may cause psychological damage. I have a question. WTF???

The media is telling us that "sex is bad", yet we can't even watch commercials without having sex crammed down our throats. There's a Bridgestone Tire commercial (or actually their entire ad campaign) that show their tires, they don't tell you anything about their performance, or how well they've tested, or how safe they are... and they don't have to because they have totally whored-out versions of the Solid Gold Dancers there to distract you!

I'm so glad I don't have small children any more. They would SO not be allowed to view television or get on the internet. Raising children is hard enough without the media undermining parents' efforts.

Yes, I know it's only "television" and we need to teach our children that television isn't reality... (you can see where I'm going here, right folks?) but it doesn't help when the media labels all these shows "reality shows" when they are so far from reality you wonder if the two have ever been introduced!

I plan to write more about ad campaigns. I'm not done with this.