Are Ads Fueling Bad Parenting?

I watch TV on a daily basis. I am also very sensitive to what I perceive to be "right" and "wrong" when it comes to family values. Lately I've noticed that a few ads have had the adverse effect on me than what the advertisers were going for. While I've noticed what they are for and remember them, they leave a bad taste in my mouth.

For example, a couple of commercials have implied that poor parenting is acceptable. In the following Nutella ad, the mother doesn't enforce anything she says: "Breakfast is ready!" No kids come. She says that she's putting Nutella on their toast and then they come. The mother says, "Put your plates in the sink, grab your backpacks" and the kids run off without cleaning up their plates, like she had asked. In response to this, she just smiles and waves it off. If I had ignored my mother like that when I was a kid, I would have been in so much trouble! I feel like this commercial is saying "it's okay" if your kids don't listen to you and you need to bribe them with a supposedly healthy treat to get them to follow directions. I think this mother needs to get a spine and set some expectations in the household.



This PediaSure commercial blew my mind. The little girl is trying to "poof" her healthy food away. The mom says that since she gives her daughter a PediaSure snack, she "doesn't have to worry so much" during dinner. Worry about what? Her daughter not eating her healthy food? Why not just tell your daughter that she is required to eat her food? I remember when I was five years old I sat at the table for an hour because I was refusing to eat my homemade tomato soup. My parents wouldn't let me leave the table until I finished. An hour later, it became clear to me that I was going to lose this battle if I kept it up, so I finished my (now cold) soup. What happened to parents enforcing rules?


In this Allstate ad, the dad says he's going to spend the money he saves by using Allstate instead of another insurance company to get noise canceling headphones after the kids start fighting and screaming in the background. While I think it was supposed to be a joke, the parents look resigned and the agent looks like she could not agree more. This commercial makes me feel like "it's okay" to just ignore your kids and let them fight it out. While, sure, all parents have felt this way at some point, wouldn't it be better for the media to be promoting good parenting?



So these are only three commercials, but I've had a TV for less than a year and before these three ads, I'd never seen anything like this. If anything, ads made it seem like everyone in them loved being in a family. But these three ads caught my eye because I'm not used to seeing parents refuse to do their jobs and parent their kids.

What are these ads teaching parents? That if you're busy and give your kid a semi-healthy snack it's okay to put on headphones and ignore them? That you're not the only parent who's overwhelmed and doesn't want to enforce rules in your house?

And what are these ads teaching kids? Granted, kiddos don't really watch ads, but they absorb everything. Everything! Are kids learning that it's okay to refuse to eat veggies because mommy can buy a shake that you will get for a snack? That it's fine for you to fight as long as your parents don't care enough to help you and your sibling learn to compromise? That it's totally okay to ignore a direct order from your mom because she'll just laugh and wave it off?

Parenting is something I take very seriously--and I'm not even a parent yet! It is hardwired in my brain to think in every situation, "How would I explain this to my kid?" or "Would I feel like it's appropriate for my child to take part in this or watch this or have this become part of their habits?" Sure, I don't have kids yet, but I have two extraordinary parents who took their jobs as parents extremely seriously. And I feel like these ads are not conducive to promoting a culture of good parenting.

What do you think?

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi