A popular personality on TV and wife of a former NFL quarterback is calling on the advertising industry to limit commercials during the 1pm game each Sunday and only highlight “family-friendly” ads. She also pointed out the violent nature of so many of the ads in general. Her kids are 1, 2.75 (yes, this is correct) and 5, and, now know the word Viagra according to her plea. Is it the advertiser who is responsible here or the parent? Yes, I am raising the age-old (pun intended) question that causes lively debate and discussion.
A popular personality on TV and wife of a former NFL quarterback is calling on the advertising industry to limit commercials during the 1pm game each Sunday and only highlight “family-friendly” ads. She also pointed out the violent nature of so many of the ads in general. Her kids are 1, 2.75 (yes, this is correct) and 5, and, now know the word Viagra according to her plea. Is it the advertiser who is responsible here or the parent? Yes, I am raising the age-old (pun intended) question that causes lively debate and discussion.
I’m hard pressed to think of a kid friendly ad. Whether it’s for McDonald’s, Disney or the Wii, parents would say advertisers are using ads to influence their kids at an early age and impacting buying behavior of parents and eventually kids themselves. When marketers create ads, we target audience with the intention of increasing awareness and a return on investment. The target customer of sports ad, particularly football, doesn’t seem to me to be moms with small kids. I’m sure we can find plenty of research that indicates a correlation between men watching professional football and Viagra usage. It might not be kid friendly but it strikes me as effective or the industry wouldn’t continue to do it.
With emphasis on freedom of speech, it seems unlikely and unnecessary for additional censorship of ads in the near future. Should we consider putting a rating system on ads like we do on TV shows? It seems silly to me to warn parents that a 15 or 30 second commercial may contain adult content not suited for kids. It strikes me equally silly to put the onus on advertisers to create commercials for a game depending on the time it airs. Couldn’t a parent choose to mute the TV during commercials or move away from the TV and get some exercise for those few minutes? Maybe the parent could record the game and fast-forward through the commercials. In many ways, it’s ironic since watching football is still watching TV when other activities are an option. I just don’t think the commercials are inappropriate for the majority of the viewing audience and a concerned parent could easily manage her own concerns.
Maybe it’s only wives of NFL players with a platform for new segments on morning talk shows that are trying to take a stand and create an issue that isn’t an issue. Really, do we need this distraction? That’s why we have commercials.