This commercial really makes my brain crawl. It airs late at night, typically with a female vocalist slowly singing, “God. . . bless. . . the chi-i-ldren. . . .”
Just wondering if anyone else had seen it or had any thoughts on it. (I’m making no comments about the charity itself–just the singer.)
I’m glad that commercial makes someone else recoil in horror. It’s one of those ads that’s so blatantly manipulative that you’d never give that organization money, but then you feel bad for not giving the organization money. DAMN THEM.
I’d like to see a commercial dealing with the impoverished children in this country first.
“And for just pennies a day, you can help little Billy become a little bit less white trash…”
Seriously, put the well being of the poor kids in this country first.
The Mick: AMEN
Plato? Aristotle? Socrates? Morons!
~Only 19 hours until I am hanging with Better Than Ezra!
I don’t think it’s that simple. There are kids in the USA who are suffering, but children in the Third World are suffering a lot more.
Besides, there are already plenty of domestic agencies that serve the needs of underprivileged children in the USA. The Christian Children’s Fund simply serves a different purpose, and there’s no reason why we can’t do both.
Tries to think of way to articulate his feelings
Children in third world countries are suffering more, and I wish I could help them all…But I can’t.
So wouldn’t it make sense to get the US kids out of poverty, get them an education, etc. So that they can grow up, and help the rest of the world? Sort of like “trickle down” economics.
I am not trying to start a great debate here, or get flamed…Perhaps a new thread is in order.
Plato? Aristotle? Socrates? Morons!
~Only 16 more hours until I am hanging with Better Than Ezra!
Just to slightly contine the hijack, the Christian Children’s Fund does in the US, in communities in Appalachia, Louisiana, the Mexican border, and the Ozarks.
http://www.christianchildrensfund.org/p.cfm/where_we_work/unitedstates.cfm
It’s clearly a gamble. After all, the majority of US citizens do very little to help “the rest of the world.”
It seems to me that a diversified approach is best. Just as it’s best to spread one’s investments across a variety of stocks, I think it’s best to spread one’s charitable contributions across a variety of organizations, target needs, and approaches. There are certain charities that I prefer to focus on, but by no means do I focus on them exclusively.
Is this the same one that has the text that reads something like:
“23,000 children died last night.”
“And will again tonight.”
Those 23,000 kids must REALLY have it tough, dying every night and coming back to life the next day only to die again and again and again…
Kind of like “One woman is raped every 13 minutes in the United States”. You’d think somebody would do something to help her, no?
We have an American ad for CCF on here in Australia. Big Santa Claus looking guy constantly intones, “A little girl waits” over footage of some little South American waif. Is this the ad?s
Is that the one with the hot red headed Irish babe announcing? I like to hit the mute and just watch her.
Sweeeeeet!
Child mortality. Yeah, that’s real funny all right.
If it were, I’d certainly be inclined to watch the commercial more. Lord knows The Mick likes hot red headed Irish babes.
Sadly, I think this one features a crusty old man.
I’m not mocking child mortality. I’m mocking the dickweed copywriter who lessened the impact of the pitch with a half-wit hack copy job. And the dickweed account executive who passed on it. And the dickweed at CCF who thought it was brilliant and put it on the air, thus opening them all up to mockery. All someone had to do was change the word “And” to read “23,000 will”. They didn’t, so I mock them. Lighten up.
Oh, and the Irish babe is Roma Downey, who is an Angel Of Our Lord so you should all be ashamed of lusting after her.
Yeah well, if Angels can lust after mortal chicks (Genesis 6:2) why can’t human guys do as much in reverse 
?
Umm…sorry. I’ll actaully address the topic.
I wouldn’t mind the blatant emotional manipulation so much if I tought they were doing any good.
I agree we’d be better off helping the poor here, but only (only!) because we seem to do such a poor job of it elsewhere. I’ve heard some bad things about these relief organisations. Not that the oraganisation are bad- corrupt, duplicitious (thought there is some question about the amount of donations that go to “administration”). Most of the people, I think, are dedicated individuals who go into harsh and dangerous places to try and alleviate suffering. But I’ve also heard- from some of those same dedicated individuals- about how these agencies get used politically by the dictators who are responsible for the peoples suffering, how the cultures they are trying to help are degraded by becoming “addicted” to aid, how despite the best intentions and the best effort they end up doing more harm than good. Like I said, I get this from reports from people who worked at those relief agencies.
I agree, I hate those ads because it’s a lot more complicated situation than they make out.
Wow, I’m impressed.
How did she get such an advanced position?
Was she elected?
Was she hired?
Was she created out of the mystical Irish mists?
Or did some ad exec say: 'Hey she’s HOT, lets put her on TV and see if her ample pulchritude generates some donations!!!
Roma Roma MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM YUMMMMMMMY!
I’ve been looking for that commercial for years.
I doubt anyone else has, though. We’ve got enough to pay attention to with the commercials of this decade.