Here's a better idea

Sure, I'd rather see people shopping at small businesses than Wal Mart, Best Buy, Target, Sears, JC Penny, Hecht's, and all the other huge box stores which have done an awesome job gutting America's economic base by running those small businesses OUT of business with cheap products and low wages. No question.

But beyond giving the middle finger to these bloodsuckers, I wonder why it really matters where we buy Made in China/Malaysia/Pakistan/Vietnam junk the Friday after Thanksgiving, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, or any other day of the year. After all, this ad isn't asking us to buy Made in America products- just the same junk being offered in an different, smaller venue. Does the local hardware store on the corner pay a living wage to it's cashier? Does the ice cream parlor up the street offer the girl who works forty hours a week health insurance? If not, why are they really any better than the Sprawl Marts of the world?

Here's a better idea- on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, STAY HOME AND OFF LINE. Don't shop at all. Sleep in. Play with your kids. Watch DVDs. Take out those old board games. Ask your neighbors over for coffee and leftovers. Go to the park. And leave your wallet in your pocket.

If this crashes the system, the system deserves to be crashed. Especially if that system thinks it can get away with cloying bs like this. Hell, they don't even tell you to use cash rather than credit- just another Buy Buy Buy commercial, wrapped in a flag. Enough already.

I strongly suggest that everyone just stay home the weekend after Thanksgiving. Maybe it will catch on- keep the money out of the economy the next weekend, too. And the weekend after that. And all the way through Christmas. Pop in a "Grinch Who Stole Christmas" DVD to remind yourself and your kids that the holidays DON'T require ribbons and boxes and tags.

Instead of Shopping Small on Small Business Saturday, how about not shopping at all- ANY Saturday? We really COULD make a big impact. Just not the one they are expecting.

We have nothing to lose but our VISA balances.

In this case, it won't bother me so much when all these jobs get outscourced to Pakistan

The official unemployment rate in the United States is 9%. When you calculate the REAL unemployment rate- the one that includes people who have simply given up trying to find a job, it's around 16%.

And that doesn't include the underemployed-- there are millions of part-time workers in this country who used to be full-time workers, and who are going deeper and deeper into debt because while their hours and benefits have been cut, their expenses have not.

And then there are the people who work very hard at unfulfilling, long-hour, low-wage jobs, because those jobs provide their only possible access to even mediocre health insurance. Because those jobs make it possible to pay the rent, the mortgage, the grocery and day care bills. Those jobs make a college education for the 2-year old who depends on them at least somewhat plausible.

And then there are these people, who are so appreciative of their employer that they just can't get enough of wasting time on their super-fast phones. And why shouldn't they be appreciative- their boss "gets" it, and even gives them encouragement in their determination to slack off.

I'm sure the overworked or underworked, harried or bored and desperate, worried and/or discouraged people watching football with the family when this ad comes on- again and again- share a good laugh at the antics of these wacky office sillies. They make employment seem so inviting, so easy, don't they? And they are just so darned grateful for the opportunity to stay off the Unemployment line- aren't they?

It's never too early to set up the next generation of debtors

Or perhaps it should be "it's never too early to set up the next generation of debtors by providing them with unrealistic expectations concerning money. That is, that money can buy happiness, or that using a credit card to purchase thousands of dollars worth of junk in order to earn 'points' which can then be redeemed to buy a ticket to the most Overrated Sporting Event in World History is a good economic plan." But I didn't want to overwhelm the title box.

So instead, I'll leave the caption the way it is, and point out that this stupid old dick doesn't seem satisfied that his granddaughter is happy spending time with grampa and would just like a candy bar. No, he's going to buy her Everything Her Little Heart Desires under the guise of being "generous," when in fact he's just trying to accumulate "points." Gee, what an awesome message to be sending an impressionable little girl. Thanks, Visa. And thanks, NFL. For fulfilling our already very, very low expectations of you.

Can someone explain to me please what goes through the heads of people who might actually do what this guy is doing? I mean, how many synapses have to seriously misfire to convince a person that it's a good idea to spend thousands and thousands of dollars you don't have in order to accumulate enough "points" to buy something ELSE? Why doesn't this guy just BUY A FREAKING TICKET TO THE SUPERBOWL? This makes about as much sense as spending a hundred dollars throwing plastic rings on glass bottles, hoping to win a stuffed animal on sale at the gift shop for $15. What am I missing here?

And if this guy insists on living in a delusional little alternate reality where somehow accumulating gallons of debt in order to gain a shot glass of "rewards" makes sense, could he at least leave his innocent little granddaughter out of it? I mean, she's still young- shouldn't she be given a CHANCE to avoid being brainwashed into believing that the pretty plastic card is the key to happiness? Because this....this is just wrong.

All that stuff about wanting Realism in Commercials? I take it back!

The pathetic thing about this ad is that it's really supposed to get us to want to run out and buy this service. Presumably because everyone would love to have a "family" like this one, in which

--Daughter paces endlessly back and forth, spitting textspeak gibberish (OMG!") into what looks like a phone, except that it has this white curly wire attached to it- what IS that thing, anyway?

--Son turns on the tv and is instantly delighted with whatever happens to be on.

--Dad does his best Ward Cleaver impersonation on the recliner, except that instead of reading the evening paper he's naturally gazing lovingly at the screen on his laptop.

--Mom and Dad exchange self-satisfied nods and eye rolls. I have no idea what they are supposed to signify. Is it "gee our kids are weird?" Or maybe "Gee it's awesome that our kids are so easy to please?" I have this sinking feeling that it's actually "isn't it great that we are all together." Because seriously...

This is what a "family room" is supposed to look like? Everyone doing their own thing, distracted by electronics, with the closest thing to actual communication coming from silent nods, glances and eye rolls? Really? This reminds me of a commercial during Christmas a few years back- before I started this blog- which showed everyone in the family "celebrating" the holiday by keeping to themselves, playing with some stupid electronic toy. Maybe that one was a little sadder because hey, it was CHRISTMAS. But this "family time" crap from RCN is just plain sickening- where's the "family" here? I just see four individuals doing their best to pretend the others just plain don't exist. And a soulless, heartless cable company trying to sell this as somehow wholesome and worth emulating.

And why is this family packed into such a small space anyway? No extension for that phone, so daughter can have some privacy and not drive everyone else insane with her pointless chatter? Is that the only television in the house? Oh wait, I forgot- this is the "family room" and this is "family time," which nowadays means nothing more than "this is the time when the people related to each other who live in this home must stay in the same room." Because the family that does unrelated things in the same room stays together, I guess.

I hate you, RCN. Almost as much as you clearly hate us.

I suggest a McAnnulment

Check out this "woman's" expression when she hears that the plane to Barbados is boarding, and tell me she's over fourteen. Not buying it.

And yes, her new husband is a fourteen year old. You didn't notice this during the dating stage, stupid? Maybe you thought he'd grow out of dressing like a teenaged slob? Or did you find that endearing? Made. Bed. Lie.

And didn't you realize that when you marry a little boy, you marry that little boy's friends? This particular bunch of jackasses KNOW they will sabotage the Honeymoon by sending the new hubby a photo of his favorite disgusting, greasy mess of a sandwich, once again Available for a Limited Time at McDonalds. (Quick aside here: why does McRib keep making these unwelcome returns from the grave every couple of years? I have no idea- but I suspect that every once in a while everyone's favorite junk "food" chain makes a deal for several hundred tons of Grade-C pork and several thousand gallons of ketchup disguised as barbecue sauce, and BINGO! McRib is Back!!)

Anyway, this guy realizes that if he goes to Barbados with his child bride he'll "miss the McRib." Setting aside the bizarre notion that a pile of pork swimming in grease between two slices of white bread is something that can be "missed," I gotta ask- how LONG is this Honeymoon anyway? I mean, McRib's sad intrusions into our already nutritionally deficient culture usually last for a month- what the hell? And he discovers that McRib is back because before the newlyweds even manage to board the plane, Hubby has already broken a promise and is checking his cell phone. I feel really good about this relationship.

Actually, everything will work out just fine if Child/Wife learns to shrug her shoulders, roll her eyes, look exasperated and memorize the line "what are you going to do, boys will be boys" and Child/Husband manages to forget about McRibs long enough to notice that Barbados has restaurants which serve real food- and that life isn't all about shoving crap down his cake hole.

Though personally, I think that the best possible thing that could happen here is that this dick's use of a cell phone during flight causes the plane's instruments to go haywire and the damn thing crashes to the Earth. Right on top of the guy's "friends." Leaving no survivors. Sparing Little Girl fifty years of life with a self-absorbed, rude, tasteless jerk. Sparing Little Boy those agonizing months of withdrawal between returns of the McRib. And sparing me any more obnoxiously loathsome ads like this one.

"We're being stupid guys on the weekend. What does it look like we're doing?"

This is one of those ads that just catches you right away. It's a barbecue. It's a backyard. A bunch of guys are playing football.

A woman walks up and asks "what's this?"

Maybe it's because I come from a family where playing football in the backyard is a cherished holiday tradition....but is this woman dense, or what? "What's this?" Um, it's a bunch of guys playing football. Bizarre, huh? Maybe you and your Seeing Eye Dog would like to join in?

And it--well, I can't say "gets better," so....I'll just say, it continues:

"We are giving (insert name of soon to be hilariously injured loser here) the NFL Experience* of a goal line stand. First of all, why? Is your friend dying? Second, no you are not- unless NFL goal line stands normally feature scruffy losers with no taste in beer. Second, let's be honest about what is happening here. Someone you allegedly care about is about to get hurt, and it's supposed to be funny. In other words, it's just another day in TV land.

Sure enough, Friend fails miserably at achieving the NFL Experience, and probably has a broken neck and back for the effort. Oh, the fun. I guess he should have been told that the "NFL Experience" can be achieved a lot more easily by pointing a cell phone at a label and pushing a button (you know, like every other experience.) Thank goodness for Bud Lite, without which Permanently Injured Guy might have just had a fun time playing an innocent game of football in the back yard. Boy would that of sucked.

"Did I make it?" "To the internet, yes." Now, I guess I should be charitable and assume asshole friend with cellphone is referring to the fact that he just entered his injured friend into some contest, and not that Funny Guy Gets Back Broken WATCH LOL is not "going viral" on YouTube. But I know what year it is, so I can't.

*Come to think of it, what on Earth would a crowd of Browns fans know about the "NFL Experience" anyway? Maybe to them, seeing people get hurt and having nothing to show for their labors every weekend IS the "NFL Experience."

"So how long have you BEEN a camera-hungry idiot?"

What's with the constant picture-taking? Where are these photos going to be published?

There must be thirty "reporters" jostling each other to ask this ditzy idiot questions. So they all work for competing media outlets, so desparete for news that a woman's witless comments about her new car constitute a "story?"

"Does this car reflect your personality"- this is the best the reporters can do? I mean, I understand they don't have a lot to work with here, but seriously? And what's with this woman's answer- jesus, could you be more full of yourself? Quirky, maybe. Smart? Not based on the answers you've come up with.

What's with the laughter after each of this woman's non-funny non-answers? Good lord, people. Could you wait for her to say something even REMOTELY amusing before bursting into fits of mirth?

I never thought I'd say this, but-- these ads make those Bud Lite Press Conferences look downright Presidential.