# Isn't Jennifer pretty? \[commercial\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 13, 2011, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-jennifer-pretty-commercial/592529 "2011-08-13T00:51:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-jennifer-pretty-commercial/592529/81 "2011-08-17T19:06:26Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > There’s a Kansas City in Missouri? I’ll be damned! 😉 Indeed. In fact, in both population and area, it’s about 3 times bigger than Kansas City, Kansas. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-jennifer-pretty-commercial/592529/82 "2011-08-17T20:43:34Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Indeed. In fact, in both population and area, it’s about 3 times bigger than Kansas City, Kansas. A good friend of mine in the Navy was from Kansas City, Kansas, He used to insist there was no such place as Kansas City, Missouri. If you said there was, he’d yell “LIAR”. 😛 Kinda like some Texans will say Austin isn’t part of Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-jennifer-pretty-commercial/592529/83 "2011-08-17T21:26:43Z")
I also like those Ally Bank commercials. That guy has my dream job - getting paid to be a dick to children. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-jennifer-pretty-commercial/592529/84 "2011-08-17T21:59:40Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > In what way creepy? In that some agree with my op? I didn’t see anything really creepy about the replies. Feeling empathy for the characters (I _don’t_ mean the actors) isn’t creepy is it? > This is an honest question, not an arguement. He was talking about YouTube comments, not comments here. > [@Frylock](#): > > C. The Ally Bank commercials are mostly likely heavily edited. The kids’ reactions are not reactions to what you think they are reactions to. Many of the “reactions” appear to me to be bored waiting. They filmed both surprise responses to the stupidness and scripted responses with a lot of editing. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-jennifer-pretty-commercial/592529/85 "2011-08-17T22:10:27Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > He was talking about YouTube comments, not comments here. I know. So was I. I went back to youtube and read them. I guess I’m naive. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-jennifer-pretty-commercial/592529/86 "2011-08-17T22:29:12Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > I know. So was I. I went back to youtube and read them. I guess I’m naive. Yeah - that’s a pretty good assumption to go with. It’s also why your assertions that kids would be traumatized by this ad aren’t all that accurate either. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-jennifer-pretty-commercial/592529/87 "2011-08-18T00:27:09Z")
I classified the replies on youtube as to whether the poster thought the _content_ of the commercial was good, bad, or the poster was indifferent to the story; Good - 6 Bad - 10 Indif - 12 I was going to do the same here, but I got lazy (too many) and just scanned. Counting repeats, it seemed the goods and bads were pretty even. If someone else chooses to count these, thanks. As for numbers, if one chubby little unpopular kid is hurt by it, I’m against it. It seems some adults were at least offended by the story. Of course I can’t tell the ages of the posters here or there. ---
**Author:** ![monkeylucifer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@monkeylucifer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monkeylucifer)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-jennifer-pretty-commercial/592529/88 "2011-08-18T00:34:56Z")
[Stupid kid…she can’t even follow proper directions.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1caAJ5CfU2g) ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-jennifer-pretty-commercial/592529/89 "2011-08-18T01:00:20Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > As for numbers, if one chubby little unpopular kid is hurt by it, I’m against it. Great. But you haven’t even managed to demonstrate that even so much as one chubby little unpopular kid was hurt by it. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-jennifer-pretty-commercial/592529/90 "2011-08-18T01:44:00Z")
Could a kid be disturbed by this commercial? Well…yeah, I can how a young child might be, but so what? We air things on TV all the time that children might find disturbing. Hell, the most popular children’s book and movie series of the last twenty years depicted a couple who heavily favored one child, while their adopted nephew was forced to live under the stairs and suffer emotional abuse. Of course, the difference there being that we see Harry Potter escape his situation over time, while the kids in the commercial suffer from the [Tether Cat Principle.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TetherCatPrinciple) No matter how many times you see it, little Kyle is always hurt at end. But, he’s also an actor, who was likely hugged by his mom and and told “good job!” once the shoot was over, and ultimately, kids who are upset by this 30 seconds of TV probably wont be upset for long. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-jennifer-pretty-commercial/592529/91 "2011-08-18T02:30:38Z")
> [@Small\_Hen](#): > > But, he’s also an actor, who was likely hugged by his mom and and told “good job!” once the shoot was over, and ultimately, kids who are upset by this 30 seconds of TV probably wont be upset for long. But Kyle is not an actor, which is what the few of you who disagree don’t seem to get. Kyle is the saddened brother who gets the remote because it’s all he has. Jennifer, as you see, is still smiling begause she knows she’s loved the best. She might feel a little bad for her brother, but she sure doesn’t stand up for him. I wonder if some of you know what it’s like out here in the big ole (real) world. Neither one actually laughs at mom and dads “joke”. I don’t know what the actor’s name is. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-jennifer-pretty-commercial/592529/92 "2011-08-18T02:57:16Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > But Kyle is not an actor, which is what the few of you who disagree don’t seem to get. Kyle is the saddened brother who gets the remote because it’s all he has. Jennifer, as you see, is still smiling begause she knows she’s loved the best. She might feel a little bad for her brother, but she sure doesn’t stand up for him. > I wonder if some of you know what it’s like out here in the big ole (real) world. Kyle doesn’t know what it’s like in the big ole real world. Kyle isn’t real. He wasn’t hurt by his parent’s favoritism because they’re not his parents. He doesn’t have a rivalry with Jennifer because she’s not his sister. And he didn’t have his sense of unconditional love shaken by the seeds of doubt at his (non) parent’s words, because he only exists in the minds of the viewer. And, really, that’s who we’re talking about in this thread. The viewers. My thoughts on the viewers of this commercial: 1. It is possible that youngish or sensitive children might be upset by this ad. Most likely, their sorrow will not be long lived or leave deep scars. 2. “It might upset the children” is not a good reason to remove something from TV. 3. Opal. 4. Any children who _are_ overly upset by this ad in a long lasting way probably have issues that run deeper than a 30 second commercial. 5. Children are often made of sterner stuff than adults. 6. Adults who are disturbed by this ad are probably projecting complex, adult feelings on it that might not even occur to most children. 7. Despite my defense of it, this ad is still not very funny. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-jennifer-pretty-commercial/592529/93 "2011-08-18T12:59:24Z")
Remove the ad from tv? Not me. And it’s the pre existing issues I’m concerned about. It’s a story, fer crissakes. And within the 30 second ad it’s a story about Kyle and Jennifer and their mom and dad, not the actors who play the roles. withih the story the characters exist, not the actors. Some kids are not as tough as parents wish them to be. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-jennifer-pretty-commercial/592529/94 "2011-08-18T13:20:54Z")
I agree with every one of **Small Hen** ’s points. Except number 7, I think it’s funny as hell. So does my daughter, who’s 8—more or less the age of the kids in the ad. Which leads me to two points of my own. 1. Kids understand that many things on TV are not real. 2. Kids understand that jokes are not real. BTW, I showed the ad to my wife and daughter. My daughter had never seen it, because it isn’t run on kids programming, at least not anything she watches. Does that make any of you feel at least a little better? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-jennifer-pretty-commercial/592529/95 "2011-08-18T13:46:43Z")
> [@Cayuga](#): > > BTW, I showed the ad to my wife and daughter. My daughter had never seen it, because it isn’t run on kids programming, at least not anything she watches. Does that make any of you feel at least a little better? Twenty years from now, your daughter will enter a never-ending cycle of abusive relationships, because of what you’ve done. You monster. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-jennifer-pretty-commercial/592529/96 "2011-08-18T14:02:44Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > Remove the ad from tv? Not me. > And it’s the pre existing issues I’m concerned about. > It’s a story, fer crissakes. And within the 30 second ad it’s a story about Kyle and Jennifer and their mom and dad, not the actors who play the roles. withih the story the characters exist, not the actors. > Some kids are not as tough as parents wish them to be. TV can’t cater to everyone’s pre-existing issues - it’s not immoral for an auto insurance company to show a car accident in a commercial, even though there are people who have lost children in them. If the point you want to make is that ads shouldn’t use dark humor, then I have to disagree with you. Sometimes a little shock makes ads more memorable. I love the ‘girl gets a pony’ bank commercial, because it’s memorable, clever, and funny. [QUOTE=sparks240] Does anyone defending the commercial here have children? [/QUOTE] People who don’t have kids are still capable of emphasizing with them, and discussing issues involving them. I have never been a fan of the, “if you don’t have kids, then you don’t know what you’re talking about,” defense. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-jennifer-pretty-commercial/592529/97 "2011-08-18T14:18:07Z")
> [@Cayuga](#): > > I agree with every one of **Small Hen** ’s points. Except number 7, I think it’s funny as hell. So does my daughter, who’s 8—more or less the age of the kids in the ad. Which leads me to two points of my own. > > 1. Kids understand that many things on TV are not real. > 2. Kids understand that jokes are not real. > > BTW, I showed the ad to my wife and daughter. My daughter had never seen it, because it isn’t run on kids programming, at least not anything she watches. Does that make any of you feel at least a little better? I don’t feel bad. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-jennifer-pretty-commercial/592529/98 "2011-08-18T14:24:43Z")
> [@Small\_Hen](#): > > TV can’t cater to everyone’s pre-existing issues - it’s not immoral for an auto insurance company to show a car accident in a commercial, even though there are people who have lost children in them. If the point you want to make is that ads shouldn’t use dark humor, then I have to disagree with you. Sometimes a little shock makes ads more memorable. I love the ‘girl gets a pony’ bank commercial, because it’s memorable, clever, and funny. > > People who don’t have kids are still capable of emphasizing with them, and discussing issues involving them. I have never been a fan of the, “if you don’t have kids, then you don’t know what you’re talking about,” defense. Insurance company ads don’t, of course, show the actual victims of car crashes. People who don’t have kids don’t know what it’s like to have kids. Defense of what? ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-jennifer-pretty-commercial/592529/99 "2011-08-18T14:30:01Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > But Kyle is not an actor, which is what the few of you who disagree don’t seem to get. Kyle is the saddened brother who gets the remote because it’s all he has. Jennifer, as you see, is still smiling begause she knows she’s loved the best. She might feel a little bad for her brother, but she sure doesn’t stand up for him. > I wonder if some of you know what it’s like out here in the big ole (real) world. > Neither one actually laughs at mom and dads “joke”. > I don’t know what the actor’s name is. [Wow.](http://images.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/2009/3/24/128824202268426062.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-jennifer-pretty-commercial/592529/100 "2011-08-18T15:12:04Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > People who don’t have kids don’t know what it’s like to have kids. > Defense of what? Yeah, but we know what it’s like to _be_ a kid, and that’s really all that’s necessary to make a judgment about this TV commercial. Trust me, my childhood was less than ideal, but this one wouldn’t have even pinged my offense-o-meter. It’s completely insulting to imply that just because we don’t agree with you means we don’t understand what’s up in ‘‘the real world.’’ The real world sucks balls, for kids as well as adults, it can be brutal and unrelenting and unfair, but that’s life and in the grand scheme of things a commercial means approximately nothing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-jennifer-pretty-commercial/592529.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-jennifer-pretty-commercial/592529.md?page=6)