Sometimes things just get to me. True story. I was hanging out with my son, he is watching Cops on G4, a national cable channel owned by Comcast that targets his demographic; 16-24, male, video game player, likes action/adventure. I am sure they would be surprised to find me in front of the set. Oh, and this is around 4 PM on a weekday, you will see why the time matters in a second.
The commercial break comes and the nice folks at G4 run an add for their “420 lineup” for several drug related movies and cartoons. The voice-over is the vintage Cheech and Chong druggie stereotype. And now I am mad. Mad, because this is just another version of “just marijuana” and it is being run on TV shows that target our kids right after school and major corporations are sponsoring it.
For those of you who may not know, April 20th, 4/20, is some kind of national pot smoking day. The lore says it comes from 420 being the police call for marijuana use but I don’t know. All the kids know though.
So I called my local cable company and complained. They were very nice but not interested in doing anything. I found the G4 web site and found they were owned by Comcast. Comcast has an email address so I told them my story. They said they didn’t know anything about G4, they carry a lot of channels and see you later. I wrote back and gave them the clip from the G4 website that says that Comcast is the majority owner of G4. Comcast said OK but we don’t control programming content!?
I am still mad so I went to the FCC web site and filed a complaint online. I felt better.
Maybe we should try to take back April 20th? What if parents stand up and say that on 4/20 everyone comes straight home from school and stays in for the evening because it is dangerous out? Could the schools increase their vigilance for one day and go on the alert for drug use, maybe cancel all after school activities that day? Would the press get involved? Maybe probation officers could drug screen every client on 4/21. Maybe we could call our local police and ask them to set up DUI points on 4/20 just like New Years Eve.
How long is it going to take until we are as indignant about a major corporation encouraging drug use as we are about cartoon images of Joe Camel?
Did I mention that the G4 420 advertisement ran between two Cops segments that involved people getting arrested for drug use!
OK, I feel better. Let’s discuss this at our next PSST meeting.
Let's Take Back 4/20
Posted by:Ken Sutton--Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
It's outrageous that we allow corporations to sponsor a 420 line up. You are so right- we get angry at Joe Camel, but for some reason we give the 420 line up a pass. Corporations simply have a drive to make money- very few scruples there. It's up to us to take back April 20th. Great post, Ken.
Did you notice the time the ad was televised, 4 p.m. is a time when most adults are at work and wouldn't see it. Could this have been intentional?
This makes me very angry. The problem is these corporations that sponsor these ads don't take the time to think about the negative influence that is being sent to "kids" who watch them, or the consequences that follow.
Oh well, I'm just a mother with a drug-addicted daughter. What would I know.
Post a Comment