Commercial Soapbox

Okay, so yesterday I felt like I had been run over twice by a really big truck so I spent the entire evening yesterday camped out on the couch in front of the television. This is not something I normally do. As a matter of fact, Craig and I have one show that we watch every Tuesday night, we watch football on Saturday, and that is pretty much it. The TV is on at other times, but I'm not usually in there watching it. I know you are all wishing I would get to the point, right? Well, I was astounded by the commercials last night. I may have posted on this before, if I have then bear with me cause I am going to post on it again. First of all, have ya'll seen some of these drug commericials? Oh my goodness! Craig and I were getting the biggest charge out of those last night. There was this one commercial for this depression medication. I'm not down playing depression - I think it is very real and does sometimes require medication, but, come on people. Would you rather be depressed or experience the side effects of this medicine. I am not kidding, it is terrible. "If you take this you may experience fainting when standing, death, high sugar levels that may lead to a coma or DEATH, yellowing around the eyes or difficulty with your liver, tingling in your arms, legs, hands, itchy ears, stinky feet, frequent urination, constipation, diarrhea. I mean the list goes on. Okay, some of those I just added for fun, but seriously, the possible side effects are worse than the drug! Then there was one about frequent urination - yes, I am going to go here! So the commerical shows these guys on this golf course and it is discussing the need to "go" often. The side effects of this medicine - passing out when standing up among other things. Oh, isn't that great, instead of having to use the bathroom on the golf course I may pass out instead. Yea, that wouldn't be embarrassing. At least maybe you wouldn't, you know, "go" on yourself WHEN you pass out. Give me a break!

Okay, then the other one that I saw was just not humorous at all. Have ya'll seen the Macy's commercial about Santa Claus? We don't do Santa. Before you freak out, my children know about Santa, we joke about Santa, we have even had breakfast with Santa. However, we do NOT celebrate Santa at Christmas. My children know that Christmas is about the birth of Christ; we may throw a little Santa in for fun, but that is it. They even know that mom and dad by their gifts. So, this commercial has several celebrities (Martha Stewart included, don't get me started) that are saying different things about Christmas. For a moment I honestly thought, "wow, are they promoting the birth of Jesus at Christmas time". NO, they are not. They kept saying things like, "it only takes the faith of a child", and "it is a love that goes on and on forever".(I don't remember the exact words but this was the jest of it) So you want to know what they were advertising? SANTA CLAUS - apparently at Macy's you can now go and mail your Christmas letters to Santa. It was sickening. I looked at Craig and said, "wow, they just made Santa look just like Jesus Christ". We will NOT be going to Macy's to mail letters to Santa. If you play Santa at your house, I'm not bashing you, but it is so important that our children understand the REAL meaning of Christmas and WHO Christmas is about.

I'm stepping down off of my soapbox now...