My son watches Nick sometimes and it used to be a lot more ‘kid product’ ads (of which I am also no fan!) but now it is infomercials for the upside down tomato plant and the toothpaste dispenser. Again, are kids gonna buy these? Or ask Mom too? I just think they are only ones buying the ad space.

When I do a video and what I’m trying to say doesn’t come out right, I do it over. It’s not live vlogging, right?

i think she was saying these commercials are DEPICTING needing a loan = being a loser. Which is ridiculous.

Maybe they don’t have these super-low-budget, commercials in your neck of the woods, Natasha? They are way over-the-top and you can’t help but giggle – no matter what your situation. (And I’m unemployed, so I could get all sensi if I chose to.)

I can guarantee you these companies are not spending big bucks on market research. Because nobody, but nobody, would identify with these spots.

Placing them in a kid’s show time slot makes zero sense, but I guess my point is they shouldn’t be placed ANYwhere – they’re poorly made and offensive.

I hear ya, Daphne. Whenever I’m watching some innocuous daytime show for old people like “Matlock” and one of these crazy commercials comes on I go REALLY??

Heather, I was going to make the very same point that you’ve made, that gee– maybe they did some market research and they discovered that the parents who let their kids watch mind-numbing shows like NODDY are generally the same parents who are struggling to make ends meet. And really not everyone who wants to save money or who has some credit card debt is someone who’s “struggling to make ends meet”. Companies wouldn’t spend hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars on advertising that doesn’t reach its target market AT ALL.

So, really, Daphne’s vlog sounded like a stuck-up, completely oblivious, “Aren’t most people like ME?” message.

I am a part of the upper middle class in Canada. My husband is a D.A. (though we have a different title for the position here), I’m a stay-at-home-mom of four, we have a very nice house and very little debt which we’ll pay off shortly. I wasn’t offended by this post because I felt like I was one of the people being made fun of (because I’m not); I was offended because it was offensive, especially in light of these tough, tough financial times! The last statistic I heard was that half a million people are laid off in the US every month. Maybe THAT is what PBS has in mind when featuring such commercials.

People who are well-off should be humble about it. There are people who make far more than my husband does who work far less and, there are people who work just as hard as my husband, with almost as much education, and make a pittance; the amount of debt one has and the family struggles one may have because of the stress of having little disposable income, does not define one’s Loser Status. In fact, the only people for whom those commercials could not benefit are those with money to waste… like maybe on a $20 cup of coffee.

I’m sure it’s hard to find something new to talk about everyday and to try and turn it into a humorous bit. I have an idea of how difficult it might be because I purposely don’t stick to only funny blog posts when I blog almost everyday– it’s tough. I just think it shows true talent when jokes are not at the expense of anyone else (even celebrities who dress strangely). When people can be funny and positive, that really impresses me. A recent Momversation video asked if the Internet is too negative. A lot of people said it was and said they were tired of it. This vlog post didn’t really help the cause for less snark and more sun on the Internet.

1. Unemployed “losers”
2. Middle class
3. Affluent

??

What about the working poor who, despite working two jobs to make ends meet, are struggling with debt? What about the middle class who have debt? Losers, too? Deadbeat parents?