Buy Prints

I'm now accepting all forms of payments for prints.
Check out the online Store!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Despite what Walmart might have you believe, a five-year-old is not a teenager.

Watching television today while Mira took her nap, I saw an advertisement that really bothered me. It was a Walmart ad for the video game Guitar Hero. At first it was all cute: this hip mom is rocking out with her kids. There's a little boy, who looks like he's maybe 8 and a little girl who looks maybe 5. The mom is jamming out on the base and the boy is playing the guitar and the girl is dancing in the background. All cute and good. Then the narrator comes on and says, "blah blah blah, rated T for Teen".

...
...
o.0

Does this bother anyone but me???? Am I being one of THOSE women? You know, the overly sensitive mom who screams about violence in the movies and how everyone else's actions are damaging to her children? Cuz I don't want to be THAT woman. But it irks my senses for Walmart to sit there and say, "We recommend this game for audiences over the age of 12... except for these two children you are observing here. These kids are mentally mature or something so it's ok for them, but not for your pre-teenager. So please don't try this at home." WTF?

2 comments:

Criss L. Cox said...

That is pretty ridiculous.

Don't tell me they couldn't find a child-appropriate video game to advertise as a "family" game, and/or that they couldn't find any teenagers to put in the Rock Band ad.

But then again, it's Walmart. With their impeccable ethical standards, what else did we expect?

Cody Casterline said...

Well, the game ratings are just there as a guideline for parents. I've played Guitar Hero and the only thing that I can think of that would merit a "T for Teen" rating is the lyrics of some of the songs. And if they showed the kids playing it with their mom, the mom can choose which songs to play.