On 7/13/03 we wrote a commentary involving violent cartoons that are marketed to children and how this violence, and the fact that violence is actually marketed to children, fits in with the Bible’s view of how the End Times would be very violent. But of course, violence on television isn’t limited to cartoons for children. Have you noticed some of the TV commercials lately? Listed here are just a sampling of today's TV ads (without naming the products) that include some form of violence.
In a beer commercial, three men are watching a prize fight on TV. One of the three imagines himself in the ring fighting the champ for a million bucks. The champ knocks this guy’s head completely off. It rolls across the mat, still alive, telling the champ "is that the best you got?" The last scene shows the head sitting on the corner stool, flirting with the girl holding the round-number card. That ought to sell a lot of beer.
In another beer commercial, a man walks out of his front door, gets hit by lightning and vaporizes. Coming out of the front door again, he gets hit in the groin with a golf ball. Again he walks out the door and is squashed by a piano that falls out of the sky. What’s all this got to do with beer?
In a famous chain hamburger fastfood commercial, a group of people who apparently are supposed to be terrorists just jump out of the air, for some reason. We need terrorists to sell hamburgers?
In another food commercial, a cook is displaying a large submarine sandwich, and then wonders if he turned the gas off. The last scene shows his house blowing up in a ball of fire. Funny? What does the destruction of a house (hoping nobody was in it) have to do with selling sandwiches?
One of the more grizzly commercials shows a claymation puppet-sized live figure of a famous sports announcer being roasted, and screaming, on a backyard grill.
And then there’s the one where a squirrel purposely runs in front of a car, which makes the car swerve to avoid hitting the squirrel. The squirrel then gives a high five to another squirrel for almost causing an accident. What a cool way to sell car insurance.
In a soft drink commercial, the driver of a car realizes he forgot his can of pop. He then revs up the engine, with a discontented passenger, runs the car through a pile of boxes, which flips the car upside down, and he grabs the can of pop out of the hands of a man (while the car is flying over the man) and drinks it while the car is still in mid air. A great way to sell a soft drink.
And the tire store ad where an elderly woman throws a tire through the store window because she is dissatisfied. (We take it nobody was inside the store, to get hit by a large tire or pelted with flying glass). And to top it off, the voice narrating the commercial says "thank you".
An insurance commercial has a woman with a voodoo doll, giving her ex-boyfriend a burning foot, and then shrinking his head, while he is sitting at a table with another girl. We need voodoo to sell insurance?
I don’t remember what product this ad was pushing, but two men are in a bowling alley. The one draws his arm back to throw the ball, but the ball flies out of his hand on the backswing. It flies over his friend’s head, and hits a third guy. You then see the guy who was clobbered, trying to raise himself off the floor.
Another, more violent commercial, shows a man driving a car, chasing a young boy on a bike. With the look on the man’s face, the camera angles, and the jerking of the camera, it looks like the man is trying to run over the kid. It ends up to be the kid’s father, trying to beat his son home, to be the first to use the computer.
It wasn't that many years ago, all the commercials for soap, food, detergents, toothpaste, etc., were of happy people enjoying life, and each product had its own jingle or theme song. Today there are no jingles or theme songs to remember a product by, but there is plenty of "funny" violence that will help you recall the brand name. The Bible says the End Times will be like the days of Noah, and the days of Noah as described in Genesis, chapter 6, were pretty violent. So as many of us feel we are in the End Times now, it is not surprising to see violence even in TV commercials, as well as in the TV shows.
If you feel as I do, that when TV cartoons, programs, and even commercials get into the kind of violence that you would expect from a PG-13 or even an R-rated movie that something is very wrong and that it’s time to get yourself ready for the return of Christ. Say a short prayer to Jesus. Tell Him you believe He is the Son of God, and He gave His life for you, and He rose again. Ask Him to come into your life and guide you for the rest of your life. As God is my witness, you will never regret that prayer.
By George Konig
Christian Internet Forum
www.georgekonig.org
Aug. 3, 2003
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