Family Weekend
I (heart) my DVR. Because of it, I rarely watch any advertising. Last night, however, as the second back-to-back episode of House ended, I didn’t fast forward, and an ad caught my attention.
Scene: Family weekend outing. Everyone is smiling, laughing, and enjoying their time around town. It’s your basic no-one-is-that-happy-and-beautiful family that you’d expect from Madison Avenue. The kids glow. The mom is pretty and thin. The dad is clean-cut, fit, and attractive.
The Ford Freestyle (their ad, of course) pulls into a driveway, and the dad gets out of the car.
“Thanks for inviting me along, guys!”
“We’ll see you next Saturday, Dad!”
My head cocked to the side. Arrrroooo? (rewind, rewatch)
Well, what do you know, a divorced family. A divorced family with a healthy relationship, no less. Who knew? It was one of those rare moments when I found an ad impressive.
Posted by Allison in psychology, personality, & mental health, culture |
July 26th, 2006 at 9:31 am
Hey, someone else who watches both episodes of House reruns. (Ever notice how many of his patients have STDs?…but I digress). I saw that ad too and Tivo’d back to see if I saw what I saw (a la Janet Jackson). I was sad at first when I realized that this wonderful family were now apart. But I was also interested that they had the guts to do two things: 1) Market to a segment of society that no one wants to admit exists; 2) Show how things can be in some separated families. Peace and harmony. It can happen, believe me.
July 26th, 2006 at 9:37 am
No kidding on the STDs! Seems like there are a few possible diagnoses that make their way into every episode, too.
Have you ever read the reviews on Polite Dissent? He gives commentary on the medicine behind each episode, plus a review of the soap opera aspects. Good stuff.
July 28th, 2006 at 7:25 am
Wow, almost makes me happy I bought a Ford! Here in Metro Detroit, you get a lot of flak if you don’t drive a U.S. car.
August 1st, 2006 at 11:05 am
I saw the ad a few days ago. Like Mike, my first reaction was sad to see the family apart. Within seconds I went from “Oh, sad commentary on society” (yes, snobbish righteousness) to “Wow, how cool that a mom & dad who couldn’t stay together would set aside their differences for a weekend for the betterment of their children.” Now THAT is something to promote!