Commercials Gone Too Far

I'm sure this discussion has come up in other places and most certainly in other blogs, but I found myself frustrated yesterday. As I was watching the afternoon news and the commercials came on I heard the words "Erectile Dysfunction" and turned my head to see Reagan, my six-year-old, intently watching the TV screen. I half expected him to turn and look at me saying, "Mommy, what's erectile dysfunction?" but (Thank Heaven) he didn't.

When have commercials gone too far? I think it's bad enough that we have feminine hygiene commercials on the air, but now this? We have to go discussing our sex lives on TV? Sure, you may think I'm being a prude, but this wasn't the evening news or prime time but the afternoon! Maybe it's that I'm getting older, perhaps it's that I have small children in the house, but I've found that I'm becoming fonder of advertisements that are clever or funny. I like advertising to engage me in some way, not be vulgar or sexual.

I think we've crossed the lines of good taste. We won't allow commercials for drinking or smoking on television anymore as they promote a lifestyle that isn't good for you. Yet, we have forgoten that sex can be just as harmful when outside of the bonds of marriage. We advertise the easy, the sleazy, and the feel-good without responsibility. And then we wonder what's wrong with our kids. Can't we have some standards again? I'm not talking about legislative standards, but standards just as a society?

Okay, I'll get down off my soapbox now. I'm just frustrated, and grateful that I can think of at least 3 children who will be raised with those standards.