In my ever-frustrating attempts to view TV sports events without
having to cover my eyes, plug my ears and empty my brain of all
adult moral content, I encountered a new low this weekend. During
the NFL playoffs here in the New York tri-state area, I was treated
to a mind-numbingly awful new ad from New York State Lottery that
eloquently advises, “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t ba-da
bling!”
Much like NFL broadcasts themselves, the ad featured scantily
clad “dancers” — emphasizing their assets in the way so cherished
by sports fans of all sexes and ages — and black, gang-banging,
rap “artists” mumbling the praises of acquiring “ba-da bling” via
the auspices of the lottery system. However, in a repulsive nod to
the hopefully passe “Sopranos” craze, the rappers are joined
onstage by a motley group of overweight thugs who I am forced to
assume must be Americans of Italian descent. Two major ethnic
groups stereotyped at once; truly a modern marketing jackpot!
This group of miscreants — who, much like all state lottery
scams, suck the lifeblood out of the poorest elements of our
society — is apparently, to the New York state nabobs,
representative of that to which we should all aspire; gilded bodies
committed to sex and violence with minds full of mush.
No doubt the spot was inspired by the DirecTV “Upgrade” ad in which Beyonce, who, between bouts of
writhing in ecstasy on a pile of bling, also sports a huge golden
charm reading “upgrade” in her mouth, lest we fail to grasp the
deep symbolism of her message to teenage girls: this is the way you
should behave in order to achieve what’s truly important in
life.
AMERICANS ARE constantly ambushed by TV commercials and even sports
broadcasts that seek not only to corrupt the morals of our children
and ourselves, but are often drenched in liberal doctrine. But what
if equal time was given to the other side?
Can you imagine the outcry if, instead of unintentionally
hilarious attempts at “greening” us all, such as NBC tried a few months ago, another network aired
productions in support of drilling for our own oil in Alaska and
the gulf coast, or encouraging the unthinkable; development of
nuclear energy strategies like those in Europe?
How about instead of anti-smoking crusades such as that waged
literally ad nauseam by our friends in the state of New
York against those who freely choose to use a legal product, we got
some glimpses of the equally behavior-driven ravages on the human
body wrought by the AIDS virus? Or instead of over-dramatizing
cruelty to animals we had some graphic video of partial-birth
abortion? But of course these images will never see the light of
day in the mainstream TV world, a world that seeks to conform the
nation to its own agenda.
Probably most emblematic of this is the campaign of Planned
Parenthood (caution, view these You Tube videos at your own risk) to promote
physically “safe” but morally ruinous lifestyles on our children.
Perverting what is good and truly natural — that conjugal love,
open to procreation is not a danger one needs “protection” against
— these ads, which air on youth-oriented channels like MTV and
VH-1 and encourage homosexual acts, teach that “protection” should
be one’s only concern during a happy life of rampant
promiscuity.
And lest our kids have any outdated religious notions that would
preclude them from enjoying this glorious existence, one of their
ads features two guardian angels of “safe sex” who
advise a young gal in the process of initiating a sexual romp to
seek after “protection.” After securing the proper response from
her lover, the girl mews a happy “Amen,” while one of the angles
tells the other that she is “pretty hot.” Explains a Planned
Parenthood chaplain, “I love the fact
that this ad challenges popular conceptions of religion and
sexuality.”
So the next time the family snuggles down on the couch together
to root on the home team, or your kids invite some friends over to
watch the latest videos; beware. It’s not just the program content
that may be hazardous to their health, but the commercials
also.
