What about the children!!!

This week I noticed two very conflicting messages sent by two very prominent t.v. networks.  The first of these messages is being sent by ABC.  To promote the new fall series' premiers, ABC is using the tagline "National Stay at Home Week".  Of course, ABC is using this campaign for all of their shows and this message is sent several times during each commercial break.  What's wrong with staying at home all the time?  Nothing, right?

This saturday Nickelodeon promoted their new campaign, "Let's Just Play", by blacking out the channel between the hours of 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.  By doing this they are hoping that children will go out and play, instead of sitting around all day.  During the advertisements for this campaign, Nickelodeon promotes an active, healthy lifestyle.

What about little Billy?  What is he to think?  When he watches Sponge Bob, he's told to go out and play.  When he watches Grey's Anatomy with mommy and daddy, or even ABC's saturday morning lineup, he's told to stay in ALL WEEK.  On one hand he's told to go out and exercise and have fun, on the other hand he's told to lock the door from the outside world and cower in front of the television.

In a way, ABC and Nickelodeon are competitors.  They are both channels competing for viewers.  ABC and Disney work together, while the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon are direct competitors.  This may be the reason for the conflicting messages, but I certainly doubt it.  As an advertising major, I believe that there is a great deal of responsibility when dealing with the messages we send children.  Even if this means we must look at what the competitors are sending out as well.       

 

Josh Howard is an idiot.

Josh Howard plays for the Dallas Mavericks and he is considered, by some, to be one of the better players in the NBA.  Lately Josh has made the news for a series of remarks either made on the radio or on television.  His first blunder came several month ago, during the Mavericks playoff series with New Orleans.  He said in a radio interview that he smokes marijuana during the off season.  Something, I'm sure, the parents of children that look up to Josh really enjoyed hearing.  The latest bonehead remark came during the national anthem for a flag football game Josh was playing in.  He made his remarks to a person with a camera phone.  He said, "I don't celebrate that s*** because I'm black." (refering to the national anthem). He continued on by saying, "F*** Obama 08 and all that s***."  

I am not a black person so I can't really speak to much on the race aspect of this incident. If this is an actual sentiment of African-Americans I was absolutely clueless to it.  If this is true it doesn't make any sense to me personally.  I might be able to understand African-Americans not wanting to participate in the pledge of allegiance.  I don't believe anyone should be forced to say the pledge anymore.  It's a very outdated rule that doesn't really affect us anymore, unless Texas decides to become its own country again.

It does upset me as an American, though.  Josh Howard made around nine million dollars last year alone.  His contract is for over thirty million. ($9,000,000 and >$30,000,000 <-- they look much larger with the zeros)  How can anyone hate the country that allows them to get paid that much for playing a freaking game for a living.  For that reason alone Howard could be called an extremely selfish idiot.

The sad part about all of this is Josh probably won't see any repercussion for his actions.  Mark Cuban made a statement yesterday that he had, "Addresssed the issue".  My personal opinion is that the commissioner of the NBA should address him personally and suspend him or even expel him from the league.  I don't want Howard playing for my team that's for damn sure.