# God Damn Robitussin Commercial, If I were dicator of the World children would be bann **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 18, 2004, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-robitussin-commercial-if-i-were-dicator-of-the-world-children-would-be-bann/240633 "2004-04-18T04:17:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-robitussin-commercial-if-i-were-dicator-of-the-world-children-would-be-bann/240633/21 "2004-04-19T01:40:41Z")
> [@Sample\_the\_Dog](#): > > Anyone ever see the French television ad w/ the little boy throwing a tantrum in the store? It was for Zazoo condoms. šŸ˜ƒ That one right there is my number one reason for not having kids. Best ad ever. Hereā€™s a [Link](http://viral.lycos.co.uk/attachments/1571/Zazoo_Cannes.mpg) for anyone who hasnā€™t seen it. And a quadruple finger flip? Youā€™re giving us four? I think youā€™re confused, itā€™s ā€œHigh five,ā€ ya jackass. ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-robitussin-commercial-if-i-were-dicator-of-the-world-children-would-be-bann/240633/22 "2004-04-19T01:51:35Z")
> [@pencilpusher](#): > > I suppose we are to keep our kids home till they can pronounce their Ss and Rs properly as well huh? Anyone with a stammer should be shot in the head till dead, any child over the age of three that pisses themselves in public should be kept at home or made to wear diapers. > Heaven forbid we parents not have the perfect child and take said defective child into public or place them on the television for public display. We may offend some fuckwit like you. I give you my heartiest fuck you and a quadruple finger flip. Oh, come off it. People are complaining about kids, with or without lisps, being used to sell products. Many people, myself included, get annoyed when weā€™re expected to say ā€œaww, how cuteā€ whenever someone under 18 is presented in media (TV shows, movies, commercials, etc.). I donā€™t hate kids, I hate kids as a marketing concept. ---
**Author:** ![fluffball86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@fluffball86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluffball86)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-robitussin-commercial-if-i-were-dicator-of-the-world-children-would-be-bann/240633/23 "2004-04-19T02:05:24Z")
> [@pencilpusher](#): > > I suppose we are to keep our kids home till they can pronounce their Ss and Rs properly as well huh? Anyone with a stammer should be shot in the head till dead, any child over the age of three that pisses themselves in public should be kept at home or made to wear diapers. > Heaven forbid we parents not have the perfect child and take said defective child into public or place them on the television for public display. We may offend some fuckwit like you. I give you my heartiest fuck you and a quadruple finger flip. How long did your kids do all of that? There must be something that made you respond so harshly. ---
**Author:** ![pencilpusher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d6d6ee/32.png) [@pencilpusher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pencilpusher)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-robitussin-commercial-if-i-were-dicator-of-the-world-children-would-be-bann/240633/24 "2004-04-19T02:08:26Z")
> [@easy e](#): > > Oh, come off it. People are complaining about kids, with or without lisps, being used to sell products. Many people, myself included, get annoyed when weā€™re expected to say ā€œaww, how cuteā€ whenever someone under 18 is presented in media (TV shows, movies, commercials, etc.). I donā€™t hate kids, I hate kids as a marketing concept. I hate kids as advertising props too. I ALSO hate douche commercials, tampon commercials, Trojan condom commercials and ANY cosmetic commercials (THOSE make me want to PUKE!) What I hate even more is people that bitch and whine about the whiney assed children throwing tantrums when Iā€™m in the store with my kids. I actually had one (childless) woman today ask me if I BEAT my kids because they are so well behaved :eek: I LOL and told her ā€œno, I trade in the bad ones every 6 months!!ā€ šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![pencilpusher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d6d6ee/32.png) [@pencilpusher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pencilpusher)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-robitussin-commercial-if-i-were-dicator-of-the-world-children-would-be-bann/240633/25 "2004-04-19T02:11:59Z")
> [@fluffball86](#): > > How long did your kids do all of that? > > There must be something that made you respond so harshly. FYI my 19 year old STILL stammers, my 4 year old canā€™t say his Rs or Ss properly because of a palate problem and on occasion still wets himself when we are out and he gets scared. What made me reply so harshly? People seem to be badmouthing kids a lot lately and I for one am getting REALLY sick of it. I mean DAMN people, itā€™s not the KIDS fault some dumb shit director thinks whiney kids are cute. ā˜¹ ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-robitussin-commercial-if-i-were-dicator-of-the-world-children-would-be-bann/240633/26 "2004-04-19T03:10:12Z")
I submit that the real enemies are the people who **love** those commercials. Bastards. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-robitussin-commercial-if-i-were-dicator-of-the-world-children-would-be-bann/240633/27 "2004-04-19T07:21:49Z")
> [@pencilpusher](#): > > What made me reply so harshly? People seem to be badmouthing kids a lot lately and I for one am getting REALLY sick of it. I mean DAMN people, itā€™s not the KIDS fault some dumb shit director thinks whiney kids are cute. ā˜¹ šŸ˜• Whoā€™s badmouthing kids? Read the fucking OP: > [@](#): > > Why on earth do Commercial makers think we like to hear small children? You seem to agree that the director is a dumb shit, so what the hell is your objection to the sentiments expressed in this thread? ---
**Author:** ![Miabella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@Miabella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miabella)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-robitussin-commercial-if-i-were-dicator-of-the-world-children-would-be-bann/240633/28 "2004-04-19T16:43:17Z")
The commercial that drives me absolutely apeshit every time I see it is for Pledge or somesuch product, and it features a charming little scamp named Mark who is running around writing on walls and furniture with a magic marker. The tag line is something like, ā€œMark marks. For everything that Mark marks, use Pledge!ā€ Yeah, Markā€™s gonna have some marks, alright. Hand-shaped ones all over his ass! ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-robitussin-commercial-if-i-were-dicator-of-the-world-children-would-be-bann/240633/29 "2004-04-19T18:09:44Z")
Yeah, Mark wouldnā€™t be marking anything in MY house. Heā€™d be sitting on a chair with those filthy hands tied behind his back for the next couple years. The little SHIT. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-robitussin-commercial-if-i-were-dicator-of-the-world-children-would-be-bann/240633/30 "2004-04-19T19:10:57Z")
> [@Miabella](#): > > The commercial that drives me absolutely apeshit every time I see it is for Pledge or somesuch product, and it features a charming little scamp named Mark who is running around writing on walls and furniture with a magic marker. The tag line is something like, ā€œMark marks. For everything that Mark marks, use Pledge!ā€ > > Yeah, Markā€™s gonna have some marks, alright. Hand-shaped ones all over his ass! But turn that same, obnoxious, spoiled, rude child into an animated Disney character and we (as a society) eat it up. Look at how popular and loved the movie Lilo & Stitch was. And I _loathed_ it for precisely that reason. I wanted to smack the everlivinā€™ shit out of that snotnosed little brat. But thatā€™s why hollywood producers put obnoxious children in commercial advertising ā€“ they know it sells! How sad is that? Itā€™s our own damn fault. ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-robitussin-commercial-if-i-were-dicator-of-the-world-children-would-be-bann/240633/31 "2004-04-19T19:55:12Z")
> [@cityboy916](#): > > šŸ˜• Whoā€™s badmouthing kids? Read the fucking OP: Whoā€™s bad mouthing kids? This quote from the OP doesnā€™t seem to be aimed at the director: > [@](#): > > If I were that kidā€™s mom, I would give her an Overdose of Robitussin, Ha that will teach you for talking too much. ---
**Author:** ![MelCthefirst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@MelCthefirst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MelCthefirst)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-robitussin-commercial-if-i-were-dicator-of-the-world-children-would-be-bann/240633/32 "2004-04-19T20:18:37Z")
Not sure what the system is in the US, but here in NZ, if you object to an advertisement (TV, radio or magazine), you can write to the broadcasting standards authority with a complaint. By law if a certain number of letters are received for the same ad, they have to remove it. It used to be a suprisingly small number - not sure how many any longer. When I was at uni, there was an ad for Blackeye computers showing a woman with a back eye. We got around 30 people to write-in complaining about this kind of portrayal of woman and how it that it was normalising violence towards women. The ad was taken off. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-robitussin-commercial-if-i-were-dicator-of-the-world-children-would-be-bann/240633/33 "2004-04-20T01:47:20Z")
I just saw one such commercial tonight. It was for Zar woodfinish, I think. The mother is standing in the foyer of the house, with wood floors, a wooden bannister and wood furniture, when her little boy bursts in from school and just throws his backpack on the floor and runs upstairsā€¦the mother then talks about how the woodfinish hold up so well to ā€œthis little guyā€¦ā€ (puke) then the kid runs back down, she hands him his jacket as he runs back outside, and the mother dutifully picks up the backpack and takes it upstairs, as he extols the virtues of the woodfinish. Damn, if I had come home from school and just thrown my backpack on the floor in front of my mother, I would be in deep deep trouble. The commercial just perpetuates the role of the mother as stay-at-hole housekeeper and servant for her little brat. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-robitussin-commercial-if-i-were-dicator-of-the-world-children-would-be-bann/240633/34 "2004-04-20T02:21:44Z")
> [@MelCthefirst](#): > > Not sure what the system is in the US, but here in NZ, if you object to an advertisement (TV, radio or magazine), you can write to the broadcasting standards authority with a complaint. By law if a certain number of letters are received for the same ad, they have to remove it. It used to be a suprisingly small number - not sure how many any longer. When I was at uni, there was an ad for Blackeye computers showing a woman with a back eye. We got around 30 people to write-in complaining about this kind of portrayal of woman and how it that it was normalising violence towards women. The ad was taken off. Yeah, but those kind of complaints (at least here in Canada) are considered by whatever broadcasting standards there are. An ill-advised commercial that has a woman with a black eye has a greater legitimacy than just screaming ā€œFuck, I hate the Snuggles bear, would you take the fucker off the air??? Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!ā€ I have a deranged hatred of some noises that most people are oblivious to. Iā€¦ canā€¦ notā€¦ _staaaaaand_ loud lip-smacking, slurping etc. _twitchā€¦ twitchā€¦ maniacal eyesā€¦ twitch_ There is a series of soup commercials with a ā€œdopey dadā€, ā€œprecocious kidā€ and ā€œwise momā€. I one of these, the little fucker (okay, heā€™s about twelve and probably taller than me, but still) is not only slurping loudly, but heā€™s making ā€œnyumā€¦ nummmm. nrrrrmm. myummm nyumā€ sounds while he is eating. I have to turn of the set so I donā€™t kick it in. If I sent in a formal complaint, ā€œThat kid is making noise eating soup!!!ā€ ā€¦ Iā€™d likely just get a back a form letter that said ā€œUhhh,ā€¦ Yeah. Okay. Right.ā€ ---
**Author:** ![Tir\_Tinuviel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tir\_Tinuviel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tir_Tinuviel)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-robitussin-commercial-if-i-were-dicator-of-the-world-children-would-be-bann/240633/35 "2004-04-20T08:09:51Z")
See, this is one of those things I donā€™t get. Ok, an amazingly annoying advert is going to make me remember the brand name, but itā€™s also going to make me NEVER buy that product as long as I live because they irritated the fuck outta me. One that piss me off the most are the ones that make unbelievably stupid comments: Pampers Baby Wipes - _Because Babies feel the world through their skin._ WHAT? As opposed to adults who have lost all sensation? WTF? Oh, and quit giving the kids spoons seven times the size of their heads which they have to hold with both fists just so they can shovel goddam yoghurt all over their faces. ---
**Author:** ![Second\_Star\_to\_the\_Right](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@Second\_Star\_to\_the\_Right](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Second_Star_to_the_Right)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-robitussin-commercial-if-i-were-dicator-of-the-world-children-would-be-bann/240633/36 "2004-04-20T10:33:28Z")
> [@yellowval](#): > > I donā€™t think Iā€™ve seen that one. The one I really hate is the one for the ā€œunspillableā€ cough medicine with the precious little blonde girl who knocks the spoon out of her motherā€™s hand. Little brat. Then later, when she has the ā€œunspillableā€ cough medicine, sheā€™s all sweet and shit. What a load. > BTW, itā€™s speech. šŸ™‚ I. LOATHE. THAT. COMMERCIAL. Makes me want to slap that kid. Repeatedly. Glad to see Iā€™m not alone in my hatred! > [@Eats\_Crayons](#): > > I have a deranged hatred of some noises that most people are oblivious to. Iā€¦ canā€¦ notā€¦ staaaaaand loud lip-smacking, slurping etc. _twitchā€¦ twitchā€¦ maniacal eyesā€¦ twitch_ Oh, youā€™re not alone. Youā€™re SO not alone. ---
**Author:** ![Ooner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c67d28/32.png) [@Ooner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ooner)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-robitussin-commercial-if-i-were-dicator-of-the-world-children-would-be-bann/240633/37 "2004-04-21T07:58:27Z")
> [@GMRyujin](#): > > That one right there is my number one reason for not having kids. Best ad ever. > > Hereā€™s a [Link](http://viral.lycos.co.uk/attachments/1571/Zazoo_Cannes.mpg) for anyone who hasnā€™t seen it. Oh man. That is easily the funniest thing I think Iā€™ve seen this year. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Naz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e99b99/32.png) [@Naz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Naz)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-robitussin-commercial-if-i-were-dicator-of-the-world-children-would-be-bann/240633/38 "2004-04-21T22:41:14Z")
I havenā€™t seen the Robitussin commercial, but thereā€™s one that makes me grind my teeth that nobodyā€™s mentioned yet. The Mr. Clean Magic Eraser commercial, where the spokeswoman sees a kid scribbling all over a wall with crayons and just smiles indulgently. WTF? If somebody saw my kid drawing on my walls and didnā€™t say anything, Iā€™d be pissed. I agree on that unspillable cough syrup commercial, too. How does somebody teach their kid that that is acceptable? Iā€™d have gotten my ass smacked for that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-robitussin-commercial-if-i-were-dicator-of-the-world-children-would-be-bann/240633.md?page=1)