I realize that I haven’t blogged for a month because of the frantic level of activity in my household as the school year ends and summer activities ramp up. And here I am back – with a cranky old prude comment.
On Saturday night, I attempted to watch the hockey game with my two oldest daughers (11 and 9), both hockey mad. I am not hockey mad but can tolerate it at this stage of the season and was prepared to take one for the team in the name of good old Canadian family togetherness (if you can call watching TV “togetherness”).
I lasted not quite one period. Not because of the game, but the ads. It seemed at every break in play, we were subjected to this little treasure or perhaps this variation of the same theme.
Look, I am not sure that viagra represents any kind of moral issue, but how many kids do you figure are watching game 4 of the Stanley Cup final on a Saturday night? Do they really need this? Does Pfizer and the CBC really need to do this to all of us? Perhaps I should have been more prepared to take advantage of the “teaching moment” so kindly provided to me and my children by Pfizer and Hockey Night in Canada, but I just wanted to watch the hockey game with my kids. And, from giant billboard bra ads to beer ads to jean ads, I do get a bit fed up with my children’s sensibilities being assaulted with “adult” sexuality (usually presented in its most puerile form) every time we turn on the TV, walk down the street or get on a streetcar or subway.
Look, at 9 and 11, I recognize that my daughters are ready for some serious discussions about sex. But what they don’t need and can’t get away from is a barrage of tawdry sexual images that don’t really have anything to do with a mature (or maturing) understanding of human sexuality, and are no doubt very unhelpful in achieving it.
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Tanya adds: You sound as comforted as I am, knowing my 11 year old nephew crosses the bridge to Montreal daily, every time facing a billboard like this. I fear for his concept of sexuality, and for the risk these ads pose as far as contributing to traffic accidents. I can barely take my eyes off them!
Note: Click on ‘bikinis’ to see actual ad images.
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Veronique adds: That reminded me of an older gentleman I knew. When walking through a shopping mall with is wife, he would stop in front of the La Senza displays (you know, those ceiling-high posters of women in underwear?), look at his wife and announce: “Look dear, just like at home!”
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