View From the Phlipside - TV Stupid

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, Radio, the Movies and more.  I love them and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View From the Phlipside.

I was watching TV last week when I saw something that I know I’ve seen hundreds of times before.  We all have.  But this time the absurdity of it all just grabbed me by the throat.

It was a commercial for a brand of dish washing detergent.  The pitch was pretty straight forward - easy to use (as if any kind of this product is HARD to use) and very powerful.  In fact this campaign is all about taking care of the dishes that have been sitting around for a whole 24 HOURS!  These people have never been in my house.  The dishes get washed when the machine is full and that might take days.  Anyway.  In the commercial the dishwasher door is closed and suddenly a team of construction workers spring into action with heavy machinery and hard hats.  All diligently clearing away all that leftover food.  

And that’s when I noticed it.

The little disclaimer in one corner of the screen reading “Dramatization”.  Seriously?  There are people out there who need to be told that putting a little gel cube of dish washing stuff into the detergent drawer will not in fact release a team of tiny little construction workers inside your kitchen appliance.  They might actually think that’s what’s going to happen.  Really?  Jokes have been made for decades now about safety warnings on products and the like.  It just seems like the level of “stupid” seems to be on the rise.  At least if the number of “Don’t be stupid” reminders is any indication.

I have no problem with the ones about “Professional stunt man” or “ Professional driver on a closed course”.  Sadly we do need to protect ourselves from fools who want to believe that they can do anything they see on TV.  If there was a designated place where they could go and kill themselves without endangering the rest of us I’d have no trouble with winnowing the gene pool.  Does that sound callous? I fully support every one’s right to do what they like so long at they do not endanger the rest of us or expect the rest of us to clean up their mess,physically or financially.

But have we really gotten to the point where there is a common disconnect between what is real and imaginary?  Or even worse between what is physically possible and not?

This commercial seems to believe we have and that may make it the most frightening thing I’ve seen on TV this year.

Call that the View From the Phlipside.

"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY.  You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010