Don't blame commercials!

Last Monday, I was sitting in a booth at the Worcester Dining Commons on the UMass campus, like I do almost every morning before my first class, and began reading that day's issue of the Massachusetts Daily Collegian. After reading through the front-page stories, I turned the page where I was embraced by two headlines: one about Saddam Hussein's seeking an appeal on his death sentence and an uplifting one about strides in HIV research.

My eyes then ventured down and spotted a headline that almost made me choke on my tater tot: "Advertising blamed for kids' ills." I quickly began reading the article to learn more about the topic that had so violently grabbed my attention. The story reports that the American Academy of Pediatrics has produced a new policy statement that says advertisements via television, billboards and magazines are partially to blame for the vices of American children. It suggests that problems such as adolescent obesity, eating disorders and underage drinking are caused, in part, by the ads that young people are exposed to.

The world-renowned doctors' group referred to commercials promoting sugared breakfast cereals and full-page ads featuring petite and diminutive models as some of the factors contributing to the vices carried by the nation's youth.

The group's new statement also proposes that doctors across the country should lobby Congress to take direct action. The group suggests banning junk-food advertisements during programs focused on attracting young viewers, limiting commercial advertising to no more than six minutes per hour and confining alcohol ads to showing only the product - not fun cartoon characters or sexy women.

The statement insists that these ads fuel the temptation of na've youngsters and that the federal government needs to do something to curb this disastrous influence.

My response to all of this? Oh, please.

I know that kids are impressionable and that corporate companies spend countless dollars trying to target them with their advertisements, but to suggest that these pictures and images are actually responsible for the bad decisions and eating habits of young people is ludicrous.

This is just one more example of people trying to pin problems on something psychological and, quite frankly, it's thinking way too much into things.

Advertising cannot be directly blamed for the poor choices people make. Commercials and magazine ads do not tie an adolescent down and force him/her to devour "Quarter-Pounder" cheeseburgers or a liter of "Vault" or to have unprotected sex at the age of 14 - the kid does it all on his/her own. Pinning the culpability on advertising companies is just another example of how certain people try to pull responsibility away from kids and pass it along to somebody else.

The advertisements on TV are just that: advertisements. They are trying to promote a certain product in order to increase sales - that's the whole idea. But, here's the best part: you don't have to buy it.

When I was growing up, my friends and I were subjected to the same sort of commercials, billboards and full-page magazine ads as kids are nowadays, but we didn't run out to buy a dozen "Frostys" and a pack of cigarettes because of them. Companies can spew whatever type of advertisement they want on people. It still comes down to a personal choice.

The folks who try to use advertisers as scapegoats for the problems that America's youth has adapted are the same ones who try to blame high obesity rates in children on the voracious eating habits of the Cookie Monster.

That delightful blue creature has been an American icon for generations and was one of my favorite members of the "Sesame Street" gang growing up. Yet, there are still those mindless, probing "big brothers" out there who claim that his enormous love of cookies and ravenous style of eating tells young kids that it is OK to shovel handfuls of baked goods down their throats.

That is ridiculous, bordering on laughable.

I'm going to say this just once: leave the Cookie Monster alone. He didn't do anything to you. He is a harmless television character, and anyone who thinks he is responsible for 17 percent of American kids being obese, as the article stated, needs to get a life.

I didn't eat cookies and get out of shape because of the Cookie Monster. I did it because I truly love cookies - they're yummy and delicious.

And I've got a question: Where the heck are the parents of these children who watch these ads?

They're supposed to be supervising what their kids are subjected to. If a few dead-beat parents can't monitor what their children view, that doesn't mean that advertising companies should be to blame.

Little by little, the amount of responsibilities that parents display is eroding, and the social/mental/emotional problems of their screwed-up kids are tacked onto others.

I'll admit that obesity, eating disorders, teen drinking and pre-marital sex can probably be influenced somewhat by ads. But when you get down to it, the choice to eat that bacon cheeseburger, or down that six-pack of "Budweiser," all come down to choice. Kids just need to wise up and think for themselves, and if they can't, their parents need to step up and try being parents.