So in this ad, there is a crowd waiting to see a piano concert, and in the audience is a couple of parents panicking about their lost kid. So as they blame each other for their irresponsible parenting and child neglect, the curtain opens, and their hyper-entitled brat is on the stage, sitting at the piano, playing “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, or “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”, or whatever simple, one-fingered kid piece he’s playing. The crowd mumbles their outrage/disapproval, and we at home can only marvel at how parents could possibly be so out-to-lunch as to lose their child in a large crowded venue, what with all the horror stories of twisted child rapists and killers on the news every night.
So then the headlining performer comes out, and in a completely non-believable plot-twist, the pianist plays along with the little imposter/interloper/trespasser. And this ends up being a commercial trying to twist our arms into encouraging little brats to do whatever inappropriate stuff they want to, including breaking into places they’re not allowed to go, and trying to be an attention hog at inopportune times. Well, I guess since we’re not allowed to punish naughty children anymore, what choice have we got?
When I saw this spot for the first time, I thought it should have ended with: “Bad Parenting: Pass It On!”, or perhaps: “Child Neglect: Pass It On!” But I guess what it’s really saying is this: “You better let our little kids do whatever they want without consequence, or you’ll be arrested for child abuse!” When I was a kid, I would have been severely punished for doing such a thing, and my parents would have been kicked out of the theater. But these days, you’d better just grin & bear it, or else the PC Police will bear down on you like a striking cobra. So great job, guys: you’re teaching our kids to be over-entitled little brats and hooligans, and that there’s no consequences to bad behavior at all. So they can all act out in whatever volatile ways they feel like with absolute impunity, and they know it! Way to go!
So what is it they’re trying to “encourage” this kid to be doing? Playing piano? Because wasn’t that what taking him to see the concert might do? But by showing this scenario, it looks more like they’re encouraging the kid to trespass, to break in places, and to try to upstage others for attention in the worst and most inappropriate possible circumstances. So what will this type of encouragement lead to? Will this kid go to comedy clubs and run up to the stage and try to wrestle the microphone away from performing comedians? Will he end up streaking across the stage at Broadway shows trying to grab attention away from the cast? Will he break into the Metropolitan Opera house and put on all the costumes and play everyone’s instruments while filming it all on a cell-phone for a YouTube video? It just seems like if you’re asking us to encourage a kid for a positive purpose, this is an ill-advised manner in which to illustrate it.
How about this instead: At home, the parents find their son trying to play that same kid song on the piano, and upon discovering this, they are inspired to bring their kid to see a piano concert in the hopes of encouraging his interest in the piano. So they go to the concert, they don't lose track of their child, and the whole family enjoys the concert, especially the child, who looks positively inspired by the experience. (And maybe they even get to go back stage to meet the pianist after the concert.) So then we see a scene in the future, where the son is now an accomplished pianist, and the ad encourages us to encourage our children. See? Then it would show a positive scenario about how this sort of thing really ought to work, rather than teaching kids they will be rewarded for bad behavior. And really, isn't that a better idea to encourage children to behave appropriately, by displaying examples of good behavior, as well as good parenting? I would have thought so.
Here’s the ad. It took me a while to find it, as it’s not on YouTube. But here it is on a blog by some guy who loves the ad, and while I see why people think it’s cute (it is, but…), it encourages all the wrong things: kids to behave badly, parents to selfishly neglect and lose track of their children, and everyone to encourage this sort of bad behavior from all parties: not a good idea! Anyway, here’s the ad:
BTW: They say it’s a true story (!). What bad parents, just casually losing their kid in a crowded theater, and not even noticing until they’re in their seats! Maybe that headline: “Missing something?” (for the glasses ads) would have been a more appropriate way to go here. Or maybe they were hoping to get rid of the kid, but had no takers, since he’s so bratty. Who can say?
In any case, just so you won’t all think I’m a child-hating monster (as I’m not: I love kids, just not as much when they misbehave), this post was inspired by the fact that this ad reminded me of an old movie I saw on Turner Classic Movies a couple of years ago, which was a comedy from the 1940s. In the movie, these incompetent criminals decide to kidnap this rich Southern tycoon’s young son, thinking they could get some exorbitant ransom for him; but when they abduct the kid and demand the money, the family declines to pay, as they don’t want the kid back, and the criminals soon find out why: the kid is constantly getting them into trouble, playing pranks on them, luring them into traps, stealing all their stuff, etc. So in the end, the miscreants just take the kid back home and offer to give him back for nothing. But the family won’t take him back unless the kidnappers pay them a ransom, which they agree to just to get the kid off of their hands and out of their hair. It’s really funny, and they show it from time to time on TCM. I don’t remember the name of it, though, so sorry about that. But the fact that this "encouragement" ad reminded me of this movie is not a good sign for the competence of the commercial or its messaging.
