What commercials are really selling

In the last couple of weeks, I've been doing something I don't normally do. I've been watching a lot of television. It's not because there is anything glorious that I can't miss, nor do I suddenly find myself engrossed in a storyline for a particular show. I had to euthanize one of my cats on the 10th and I've not been motivated to engage in my normal evening routine, like surfing the Internet for hot Finnish rock stars. (I use the clinical term "euthanize" because I absolutely hate the term "put to sleep." That's the worst euphemism that was ever invented, if you ask me.) So, using my mild depression on the matter as an excuse, I have been indulging in comfort foods and letting my brain rot in front of the idiot box.

Only, watching copious amounts of television has done nothing to improve my humor about the quality of programming in the United States. In fact, I found new levels of loathing I didn't realize were possible. But I don't want to wax philosophic about the lack of quality programming. It's not like I was making an effort to watch public television or any of the Discovery Channel shows. I didn't feel like anything cerebral, and so network television was the vehicle I chose to numb my tired, sad and aching brain. But it wasn't the television shows that made me take notice of what was being pushed through our airwaves. What made me think about the disconnect between the media and real life came from the most forgettable and expendable portion of television programming: the commercials.

Most people use commercials as their way of getting up to do something other than sit and watch the advertising. However, I found myself more and more interested in them as the nights went by. In fact, I found myself making "TV time" just so I could see what the commercials were going to offer. No, I'm not talking about product offerings. What I found by watching TV commercials for pretty much the last 10 nights straight was that our society has not progressed as far as we would like to believe it has. And, I believe that advertisers are deliberately replicating an image of society grounded in the early years of the Cold War Era, just with modern clothing and styles.

One of the most interesting commercials I've seen are ones that deal with cleaning products. Invariably, the main character in the cleaning commercial is a woman. She usually is in a large, nicely furnished (and spotless) home, has several children running around and might even have a pet. Sometimes you see a man that I am assuming is her husband. And, she is always cleaning during the brightest time of the day, and in clothes that wouldn't be out of place at a nice luncheon with "the girls."

What strikes me as odd about this scenario is that it suggests a rather archaic view of women's role in society. If these commercials were truly a snapshot into real life, women would all be married to a man, have bred at least two children successfully, do not work during the day outside the home, and enjoy cleaning house in their business casual clothing. They also must have husbands who make a fair amount of money to afford their costly furnishings and to allow them to stay home and tend to domestic duties. And finally, women are relegated to doing all the domestic work, because if the man is actually in the commercial, he's usually a buffoon that wouldn't know a mop head from a bowl of spaghetti.

I don't know about you, but to afford one third of what I see in those commercials both my husband and I have to work all day, as I'm sure most other couples in the US have to do. Also, my husband and I share the cleaning responsibilities because sometimes there just isn't enough hours in the week for only one person to get it all done. I don't have small children running about making a "merry mess," and I am usually scrubbing my bathroom floor in sweatpants and an old t-shirt, not freshly pressed khaki pants and a cotton blend twinset with pearls and nice shoes.

The commercial implies that the only happy housekeeper is a married, kept mother who puts cleanliness next to godliness. I like a clean house, but I'm not going to obsess over it. And I am perfectly happy not having small children right now, and I was perfectly happy living on my own as a single working woman before I was married. Why can't the cleaning companies figure out that there are others out there that do not fit this stereotype? In fact, a vast majority of the people I know do not fit this mold in the slightest. Heck, I even know men that clean their apartments all by themselves. Fancy that.

Another interesting quality about commercials is that if there are children or what appears to be a significant other in the commercial, the adults in the commercial are ALWAYS married. Watch closely next time you see a commercial for baby products, children's medicine or mattresses. The adults shown will always have the generic 5 mm wide plain gold band on the third finger of their left hand. I might also note that not a single married woman in commercial-land has been presented with a diamond engagement ring. Ever. (And don't get me started on how the Mr. Clean man has become decided white in the last 20 years. That's for another article.)

Are our commercials telling us that single parents are an embarrassment that shouldn't even be addressed? Do they want us to believe that the only way we'll find harmony in our homes is if we are married, and not merely living with each other? Why must we keep focusing on the concept of the "nuclear family" as defined by Webster in 1947?

About the only progress we've made with regard to family structure in commercials is that they actually show two adults in the same bed. Who would have thought that a married couple would want to share the same bed? And where are the other members of our society? Where are the twenty-somethings, the mixed race couples, the same sex couples, the May-December couples? Why must everything in our media exist in this Leave It To Beaver vacuum?

Maybe it's a sneaky and subliminal way of countering what many media critics claim is the "decline of morals in the media." Maybe this is their underhanded way of foisting their opinion of what a "proper society" really is onto the unsuspecting public. You have to admit that television programming has become more open to some homosexual issues, gender issues, race issues, realities of single parenthood, divorce, adultery and sexuality, particularly women's sexuality. It's not astounding, but it's a few baby steps in the right direction. However, groups like the American Family Association, among others, are constantly on a rampage about the "evils" it sees in television programming, yet seem unable to "stem the tide of sin," as they so quaintly put it. So, since it doesn't seem like "decency laws" will really have much bite to them (if they are ever passed), there really is only one vehicle left for conservative groups to use to promote their version of reality.

Using commercials as a way of promoting an alternate reality borders on genius. Most of us either tune out the commercials or do something else during that 3.5 minute break from our nightly entertainment. However, the marketing message about their product still makes it into our subconscious whether we like it or not. Most people can easily recognize a jingle or an icon, like the Oscar Mayer bologna song or the Pillsbury Dough Boy. (In fact, I can't spell "bologna" without singing that song.) Could it be that these visions of a "proper society" are also invading our subconscious as well? If so, then the conservative media watchdog groups are probably reaching a far wider audience than they could ever have dreamed of doing with just awareness tactics alone. Only time will tell if their subversive methods will yield any fruit.

All of this may sound a little paranoid to most, but I'm of the opinion that special interest groups, regardless of political affiliation, will stop at nothing to promote their agenda. Why not use the subtle science of subliminal suggestion? After all, commercials are supposed to be selling you something. Usually, what they are selling you is a product, service or information. Why would it be a stretch to consider that they are also selling a meme?

Marie really has been down since the death of her cat, Earnest. He was a large part of her life these last 11 years, but the illness he's had since birth could no longer be fought. He will be greatly missed. Comments about this article can be sent to her at poisongirl@hobotrashcan.com.

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