Wednesday, February 4, 2009

SpongeGod Squarepants?

Let me start with the following disclaimer: This is NOT an attack on the small yellow sponge "who lives in a pineapple under the sea!".  I have some issues with him but I'll save that for another day. So I'm one of the lucky ones that gets a decent amount of time to spend with my kids while basically holding a full time job. SpongeBob is fairly funny despite the ambiguity about his age, the fact that he lives alone, and that he also has a full time job. Today my daughter and I were watching an episode on Nickelodeon(also known as Nick) and during a commercial break I was quite disturbed to see an ad for the Prayer Cross, an allegedly crystal laced, sterling silver cross that contains the Lord's Prayer, which becomes visible when held up to the light.

There isn't a logical reason that comes to mind when trying to figure out why a company would attempt to market its religious message to children. Especially when they are watching a show that raises as many questions as SpongeBob does. And the damage is twofold; they have children in the commercial wearing the item as well as a shot that shows an adult sized pendant with a child sized pendant. A sad day indeed for children's programming. I have contacted both Nick(called after hours) and IdeaVillage and am eagerly awaiting both responses.

1 comment:

  1. Way to get involved. I've seen those commercials too and, apart from being amused by the glaring hypocrisy of the product itself I've of course wondered, just who is buying this thing? But it makes sense that it would be kids. It's more like a toy then jewelry. Reminds me a little of a view master.

    And that Bob Dylan line about 'flesh colored christs that glow in the dark'

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