I’m a football fan. The first 3 years of my marriage my team was on fire, and I literally had to go through the grieving process when football season was over. We haven’t seen much football since moving to North Carolina, because we’re Colts fans and we’d have to pay to watch on a regular basis. And we’re too cheap for that.
Because today was a rainy/cold Sunday afternoon, Josiah didn’t feel well, and we weren’t over scheduled, I thought it would be nice to turn on the TV and watch a football game. You know, America’s pastime and all that (Sorry MLB, it’s totally NFL). Our son was in the room with us, being that it was in the middle of the day and he was wide awake.
Within 2 minutes, the network we were watching aired a Hardee’s commercial. In some combination of horror, disbelief, shock, and bewilderment, my once innocent 7 year old was accosted with images that were overtly sexual and included (almost, but may as well have been full fledged) nudity. His response:
‘That was weird.’
‘Weird’ because he doesn’t have the vocabulary to express what he saw.
I have gone to great lengths to prevent my children from seeing too much advertising. We do not have cable TV, and PBS doesn’t air commercials. Originally, selfishly, I didn’t want them being inundated with products that they ‘had to have’.
And now, I guess it will be to protect their eyes from the soft porn images on Hardee’s commercials.
Frankly, I don’t blame Hardee’s. Neither do I blame the network. They are businesses and their sole purpose is to generate profit. That’s business. They have no obligation to cater to my beliefs. They don’t claim to be followers of Christ, and therefore I would not ever expect them to act under my convictions.
They air/produce/create/promote/utilize those commercials because it (somehow) sells cheeseburgers.
I could rant and rave and scream until I’m blue in the face about the dangers of pornography/overt sexual images on the actual brains of our girls, our boys, our culture, and it would not make one bit of difference.
Because sex sells cheeseburgers. And until it doesn’t sell cheeseburgers, it will continue to sell cheeseburgers.
Get it?
Don’t want to see those commercials?
- Don’t buy those products.
We will never win this battle with an argument of righteousness. It’s all about the Benjamin’s baby. Every dollar you spend casts vote.
Hardee’s, you just lost our vote (and our dollar).
Sincerely,
Parents who are trying to raise boys to become men who respect women
coatsquotes 