Critics have blasted the government's new anti-obesity campaign for being too soft on fat. The critics say that the ads are" namby-pamby." The critics, if they want to make their case heard, should not use the hyphenate namby-pamby. The criticism of the critics lacks razzle-dazzle.
This is how I pictured the ads before watching them:
I imagined a man eating a glazed donut. The man would be tragically obese and sad as he grazed on the donut. He would turn the camera and say, "being overweight is unhealthy, but it's much better than starving to death." The man would take another bite of the donut and wipe a tear from his eye. "Also, there is nothing morally wrong with being obese."
That's a pretty namby-pamby commercial, but the actual commercials are just lame.
The basic plot is that some kids are hanging around playing video games. Suddenly, some cartoon characters or some celebrities or a combination of celebrities and cartoon characters break into the house where the children live and, as far as I can tell, take the children away without parental permission. The kids shoot hoops and climb on jungle gyms. Everyone feels good about life. The website smallstep.gov appears and everyone, human and animated, wave goodbye.
The cartoons and humans who earn their money by being watched on television are telling kids to go outside and to not watch television. Also, the commercials are loud and obnoxious with horrible soundtracks. It's like watching a television advertisement for a third-rate roller coaster, or listening to that screaming man talk about the monster truck rally that is to take place on the day of our lord, the day of our lord, the day of our lord.
So,the critics are right, although very wrong.
When did we become reliant on television ads to help us better ourselves? If I were a critic, which I am not, I would criticize the general public for listening to advertising. It's probably what got them hooked on fast food and fizzy drinks.
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