O Hai, Eat Shit, Suckers

On my 2 year, one-month anniversary of quitting smoking, I'd like to give a hearty shout out to NY Quits. May they take their best intentions and jam them, acid soaked and on fire, straight up their holier-than-thou asses. Anti-smoking campaigns are a GOOD THING. They help people make hard decisions that are ultimately life saving (or at least healthier). The whole purpose of a commercial is to manipulate the consumer, no matter what it's selling. I expect to be manipulated and I expect them to lay it on thick. The gross out commercials bothered me--in fact, the one where they squeeze fat, white goo out of the big artery was particularly horrifying--but I understood the motivation. Hey guys, LOOK, gross, greasy Crisco is lining your veins, idiots! It's enough to make anyone want to quit...and then hurl and hurl.

This newest addition to the NY Quits campaign follows a different route of manipulation--straight to the guilt trip, do not pause at common sense, head directly to the eighth circle of hell.



That kid is really crying. In all the news reports they keep emphasizing that he is a child actor, but the fact remains: He's not acting. They took the kid out into a crowded area, left him alone, scared the shit out of him and made him cry. This is one of those childhood traumas that stick, by the way. Nice job, NYC Quits.

What also bothers me is how the media has been talking about this story as if it was a necessary evil. And they're putting all the commercials in the same category, I guess because the shock value makes them all the same? Really? Really guys? Because freaking me out with diseased gore is one thing, child abuse is another. I'm not known as a big Advocate for the Children...not that I am the devil or anything, don't get me wrong...but I think the over-protective, over-congratulatory, over-indulgent parenting going on these days is the same kind of sin as beating the living shit out of a kid. Two different approaches to parenting, neither is OK. I'm not down with coddling children. Interesting fact: Frightening a child to the point of making him cry is not OK. Fuck your intentions. This is bad judgement at the best and deliberate harm of a child at worst.