Do it for the children

One of the most effective tools in the arsenal of advertisers (and I must include charitable organizations) is guilt. How often does it play a role in our lives? Well, if you don't know the answer you're failing at being a compassionate and understanding human being. And this is basically how guilt works in the commercial world. The commercial world is basically the world filled with commercials. Even drive-through's and convenience stores play at our heart strings. Have you ever got the munchies cravings around mid-morning and decided to stop at your local gas/convenience store? You walk in and there's a shamrock shaped paper lining the wall near the cash register with the latest test of conscience. If you cared you would purchase this shamrock piece of paper because we'll put your name on it so society will know you're not a low life who can't afford to pay a dollar to show your allegiance with the latest non-profit organization our corporate executives have decided would look good to promote. Or the big glass jar with the 3" x 4" paper taped to the side for the next surgical procedure a customer or friend will undergo that you almost push off the counter as you're just trying to pay for your soda? This is where it gets interesting. When asked about the person whose face is plastered on the jar the attendant will inform you in one of two ways - they don't personally know the person but heard they're a good cause or the person is their best friend or sister or uncle who raised them after a tragic auto accident killed their parents. They will have an answer and it will make you feel guilty if you leave without dropping your change in the jar. It has become very common practice at McDonalds to ask for a donation for something every time you go through the drive-thru. In fact, your order is not complete until you've been asked if you would like to donate a small, one time only donation, of one dollar to the Ronald McDonald playhouse or some other organization that McDonalds is affiliated with. And that's not all. At the pay window you will see that a permanent structure has been built into the wall to catch your change if you happen to drop it in the correct moment. And let's not forget mother's day and valentine's day or the other commercial holidays that have been invented to make us feel like we're pathetic wretches if you we forget or do not purchase the "just right" gift and card that is required after living past you're tenth birthday. What kind of human being forgets or doesn't buy the right gift? How could you be so unkind and uncaring to not spend hours and money looking for the perfect gift. And then the reaction when your mother knows that "yes, my Johnny does love me and he went all the way with a Hallmark brand card". Or how many men have faced the wrath of a forgotten anniversary or birthday or valentine's day all together? The scenario goes like this - Johnny, or we'll go with John, has a deadline at work and goes in early to try to finish by the deadline set forth by his boss (who happens to have a mother). John skips lunch and works extra late because the boss (who loves his mother more than John loves his mother because the flowers that John's boss purchased were $20 more than John paid) has made it perfectly clear John will lose his job (which means losing his house and car and groceries and whatever else John uses his paycheck for) if he does not complete the assignment. John leaves work that night triumphant in the knowledge that his family will remain secure and the bills will be paid. John drives home (dinner will be cold or non-existent but that's okay, he still has a job in the morning) with a feeling of oneness with the universe because he's accomplished the impossible and his boss won't yell at him in the morning. Of course his boss will just say "Looks like you finished that assignment. Thanks." and that's all John really needs. But when John opens that door and sees the special pizza his wife had delivered and the cheese has gotten cold John suddenly loses his grip on oneness with the universe and realizes something is wrong. John asks his wife what's wrong and then comes the response every husband dreads. The words spoken hundreds of time but rips out the heart just as often. "HOW COULD YOU?" John immediately goes through the thought process of what has been done in the last week that he wasn't careful enough to cover up or clean up. What could he have done? Did he forget to pay a bill or did an old girlfriend from 20 years ago, who just divorced her husband and now is trying to reconnect with Johnny, call the house that day? What did John do? Then John starts to realize all the hints he'd been missing that his wife had been throwing so evidently at him for the past week. "Isn't that a beautiful blouse? she said the last time the two went shopping? Or how about the conversation she started during the episode of the show John had waited a week to watch and regardless of whether the commercial was on she was gonna find out if John remembered that little restaurant they found on their honeymoon? Of the calender with a date circled but nothing filled in? How could John forget? The anniversary. How many clues must a woman leave for her man to remember a date from twenty years ago that had no correlation with any of the other 364 days that year or any year but is supposed to be the most important day in the history of mankind? What was John's wife supposed to do? Tell him bluntly "John, our anniversary is in two days and if you take me out to dinner that night and buy that blouse that I pointed out and said "I want that blouse and it would make me happy if you purchased it for me"???? How could John not see the clues and follow the complex strategic game of chance his wife so carefully plotted out for him? No wonder John works so hard. If he cared about his wife at all that date would have been his focus for the past 365 days because it only happens once a year. What an uncaring and unloving man John is!!! So, as with John, our lives are filled with reminders everyday and every chance possible about how much we disappoint and let down our fellow man in this slow, self-centered world we live in. Didn't answer that text message within a minute? Well you must not care. Didn't stop at the light and blazenly drove through and cut off a more centered, caring driver because you're 5 minutes late to your son's graduation? You just really don't care do you? And the signs and clues are obvious to everyone, aren't they? So next time you want fries with that Big Mac you better have an extra dollar because that Fortune 500 company that you're buying those fries from will have their minimum wage worker ask you if you love your fellow man just as much as the driver in the car ahead of you. Try to care a little bit more if you're just trying to get a quick bite to eat because you spent your lunch hour getting a card for your secretary on Secretary's day. And then realize you're a cow because it's uncaring to belittle your secretary calling her a secretary when really she's an administrative assistant. My name is Rueuhy and I approve this blog.