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CANDLELIGHTING

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THE JEWISH VIEW

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HOLIDAYS

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JUDAISM 101

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{weblog_name} - The Dog and Pony Show
Comments (1)

Do you remember the beer commercial with the dog and the horse that ran repeatedly during last year’s Superbowl?  I loved that ad.  It was so sweet—it made having a beer seem as innocent as having a diet soda.  And that was exactly what that ad was supposed to do, according to my colleagues, Susan Kurlander, M.Ed., and Howard Reznick, LCSW-C, Prevention Education Specialists at Jewish Community Services. Last year 14 million viewers under age 18 watched the Superbowl; 7 million of them were under age 12, and I’ll bet most of those kids saw that ad at least once during the game.  I’m all for entertaining commercials, but let’s look at that ad critically.  The ad was about a very cute, smart dog helping a sad, lonely horse be a part of the T-E-A-M-  the Budweiser team.  So… read more

There is something ineffably sad about this.

In our therapeutic times, parents apparently need “advice” from social workers on each and every aspect of life - as if adult common sense departed this earth (well, perhaps, just Baltimore, and then only for readers of this publication) with our parent’s and grandparent’s generations.

Oh dear! How ever will we survive the Superbowl without preemptive therapy?

I’ve been watching this game since Superbowl V (our Colts won!), and I guess I’ve seen hundreds of beer commercials over the years. Its funny, though, neither as a child, adolescent, college student, nor adult have I been attracted to alcohol as a result.

If Ms. Kane wants to write something valuable about sports marketing, let her assess the phenomenon of parents purchasing game jerseys with star athletes’s names on them for their sons (and themselves).

What does that say about the constant marketing of celebrity, superstar culture, and, more importantly, the judgment of parents?

Maybe next season when the Ravens are on TV, she can ignore the beer commercials, and focus on the thousands of kids in the stadium who don’t merely want to be like Ray Lewis; they want to BE Ray Lewis!

I’ll be interested to read the therapeutic perspective on this!