The American Lung Association is trying to guilt trip and browbeat us all with blatant emotional manipulation in this almost shameless commercial. I think they want us all to nag Congress not to weaken the Clean Air Act, or something. But from what I can tell, Congress doesn’t bequeath a vermin’s hindquarters what the American people think or say, so why heap the guilt trip onto TV viewers? (I’m not trying to repeal the Clean Air Act! Why blame me?) And with such a shameless display of social propaganda to boot, it feels almost exploitative. But that’s not even the problem I have with this ad, either. Because while this commercial is trying so hard to emotionally manipulate us all, they’re using imagery that suggests many other things, and it’s kind of a problem. What am I talking about? Let’s take a look:
This spot shows a red baby carriage, but there’s no baby to be seen anywhere. In fact, from the way they present this scenario, it looks rather like they’re trying to trick us into thinking there’s a sick, struggling baby, when in fact it’s just a Dictaphone with baby noises playing on it, sitting in the carriage. And this carriage looks like a red version of the one from that famous movie poster for Rosemary’s Baby, but it looks even more evil because it’s red, rather than black. So this makes me think there’s that cannibalistic monster baby from It’s Alive! in this baby carriage (!). And these struggling baby sound effects are just intended to lure us over to the baby carriage, where the monstrous infant will devour us! And that’s why the baby carriage is red: to hide all the blood! (Aaaaa! Help!) And when I see this horror movie baby carriage, and it’s placed in Washington, D.C., it makes it seem like Washington, D.C. is more evil even than the hellscape from the Rosemary’s Baby poster. (It certainly seems just as corrupt sometimes.) And that reminds me of the movie The Omen, where Satan’s brat is trying to take over the government. Is this what the American Lung Association wanted me to be thinking about? I wouldn’t have thought so, but…
So, rather than making me feel like I must come to the aid of helpless children with respiratory ailments, this ad looks more to me like the American Lung Association is in league with some Satanic cannibal monster baby to take over our government, like in a combination of It’s Alive!, Rosemary’s Baby, and The Omen. So, this is how the Antichrist will take over the world, through emotional manipulation and propaganda, huh? I thought so! But I never would have suspected the American Lung Association would be behind this evil plot; after all, they’ve got a cross as their logo! Shouldn’t it at least be an upside-down cross, in that case? (Just to be sporting.)
Here’s the apocryphal, apocalyptic ad:
And here’s the Rosemary’s Baby poster:
