Commercial Cuties

This summer I have done the dreaded Mommy no-no. I’ll admit it. My kids have been plopped in front of the tv for much much more than the usually restricted hour a day. Go ahead and flog me now. We’re going to the pool, park, library, and other outings and the kids and I are both exhausted and on goes the Netflix.

Usually we TIVO everything or watch Netflix with the kids, but this morning I was extra bad. I let the kids watch NickJr unsupervised while I took a shower. When I came out the girls were screaming that we had to buy a tangle free brush now. Now! Or it will be gone! They then repeated an infomercial to me, capturing all of the marketers highlights. The brush won’t hurt. It gets tangles out TWICE as fast as any other brush. It comes in four colors. You can get a free one if you act now. And most importantly you have to act now or the brushes will all be gone. This foray into commercials had them all worked up.

I turn off the tv and sit them down.

“Kids, do you know what exaggeration means?” I ask.

No one knows. I explain that exaggeration means you start with the truth but you add little things until what you say isn’t totally true. Then I give an example. “You know how last night we had McDonalds” (Yeah, I know, tv and McDonalds. It’s summer!) “and you guys said that it was the best dinner you’ve ever had in your whole life. Well you started with something true. You thought the McDonalds food was good. But then you exaggerated by saying it was the best dinner and not just a good dinner. And further exaggerated by saying it was the best you’ve had in your whole life. What about pizza and fruit salad and GoGurt?”

Abby said, “I didn’t tell a lie. I was true. That was the best dinner I tasted.”

Abby hates the idea of telling a lie. I hope that stays. So I fine-tune my explanation. “An exaggeration isn’t exactly a lie. It is usually a truth that you want someone to really listen to so you say it extra excited.”

That makes sense.

So then I tell them that a commercial is almost always an exaggeration. If you listen for the exaggeration then you can understand what the product really does. We talk about the brush commercial they just saw, and I tell them that there were lots of exaggerations in it and ask them if they can tell what they were.

Briana says, “It’s the only brush that gets out tangles is an exaggeration. We have a brush that gets out tangles. Those brushed just get out tangles too.”

Exactly.

Abby isn’t convinced yet. “But I saw it! I saw that girl whose hair was a rats nest and then all the tangles came out in one brushing and the girl didn’t cry or anything and she said ‘That didn’t even hurt, Mom.’ It’s true that brush did it and you need to call now or there will be no more perfect brushes.”

Boy did those marketers know how to reach the NickJr. crowd based on my house. Poor Abby.

So I explain that demos are a way that a lot of companies exaggerate. I give them a couple of examples that I know for a fact about. I won’t mention them here and trash any brand specifically, but suffice it to say that I worked for a big consumer products company and we watched competitor’s ads very closely and were not shy about telling our lawyers when something didn’t look right because it muddied the field, so to speak, when we launched ads with real demos that people either didn’t believe or thought were lame compared to the fictionalized, much bigger versions that other people did.

I also ask them, “What would happen if I washed and conditioned your hair and then brushed out all of the tangles. But then you dried your hair and messed it all up so it looked like a rats nest again. When I brushed it down again, what would happen?”

“Like when we put our clothes on after a shower and you have to brush us again for school?”

“Yep.”

“There’s no more tangles. It’s just for beauty. To beauty us.”

Right. That’s just what that commercial probably did. That’s why her hair was so easily brushed.

I tell the kids that we should always really listen to what’s being said in a commercial and pick out what is real from what is an exaggeration.

We talk about the only other commercial they know. A commercial for a toy pony that Abby saw around Christmas time and had to have. It was the only thing she asked for and we got the $100 toy for her. Luckily she loves that thing like crazy even now when most of the Christmas toys are long forgotten, broken, or used up. Both of my kids (and my husband and I) can still sing that jingle.

I ask them if they can think of any exaggeration in that commercial.

“It’s the only pony. There are other ponies at the store."

That’s the only part of the whole jingle that my kids will admit is exaggeration. This toy is sacred and it truly eats its carrot, responds to brushing, and nuzzles, snuggles, and loves my kids just like the commercial promised. J

We move on.

I figure that it might be easier to get them to understand what to look for if they make their own commercial.  They decide to make a commercial for their favorite blankets. Here’s the one and only take of the best blanket commercial you will ever see.

As you can tell, I have no desire to spend the morning editing the commercial. I just spliced Abby’s part and Bree’s part together. I have no idea why it is sideways or how to fix that since it's right side up on my screen until I publish it.

Edited: In case you can't see the videos, here are some screen captures so you can see how dynamic the video was. Abby came out and described how soft the blanket was and how it guaranteed a good sleep and then Briana came out and talked about how warm and cuddly it is and she finished with "order now":

After the girls get to watch their own video we talk about what exaggerations they used and what other exaggeration words we could use. Only, now, best, ever, fastest, and words like that were flagged to be careful of in a commercial.

Then Briana makes one for her hairbow.

Edited: Including a pic-
"I've never seen this kind of bow before in any lifetime 'cause it has a Hello Kitty in the middle. Please buy now."

And Abby makes one for her tea cup.

Edited: Including a pic-
Abby's commercial is much longer than Bree's as she talks about everything you can do with the cup including wear it as a ring on your finger. Bree laughs and says, "Uh. I don't think I'm going to buy that cup."

Though a lot of our time this morning was spent being silly, I think it’s important that the kids start to separate the hype from the message, especially in commercials as I let them watch more tv this summer.

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<3 Pedigreed Housewife