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Adventures in Attachment Parenting: Burger Porn by Allison Silver


​Having a young child in our home has made my husband and me super hyper sensitive as to what is appropriate and what is not, especially when it comes to television. One of my biggest pet peeves is the commercials that are shown even during “family friendly” programming. Case in point this past weekend when the Super Bowl was being aired. Like many American families we were watching the Big Game with our extended family (who are die hard 49er fans) and our daughter was right there with us. No, she wasn’t glued to it, but she occasionally would stop what she was doing and look at the screen especially when the other adults in the room became excited. Since I’m not typically a huge football fan I usually get a lot of enjoyment out of watching the commercials that are aired during the Super Bowl. As I was watching the advertisements on Sunday I became truly disgusted with two ads.

​The first one was The Go Daddy ad. In this advertisement a very unattractive “dorky” looking man and a beautiful super model were kissing. It was not a quick, sweet little kiss. It was a prolonged, disgusting, full mouth kiss that made you turn away and cover your eyes. In my case I cringed and covered my baby’s eyes. I don’t want her seeing this crap! I’m pretty sure my child was not the only young child watching the Super Bowl with her parents on Sunday and I do feel that the advertisers have a responsibility to make sure their ads are family friendly and are appropriate for all audiences including young children especially during a huge television event such as the Super Bowl.

​The second advertisement was a Carl’s Jr ad that I like to refer to as “Burger Porn.” Yep, thats right, I said porn as in pornography! You’ve probably seen a commercial like this before where there is a Sports Illustrated model who is barely clothed, with her legs wrapped around her neck, eating a hamburger of some sort and it’s dripping all over her body. First off, I think these commercials are disgusting and I have stopped eating at Carl’s Jr since they started this “Burger Porn” campaign. Now I know that I am clearly not the target demographic, but neither is my 15 month old daughter!! I don’t want her to be exposed to this garbage!

​It is because of ads like these that we DVR most of our programming and are able to fast forward through the garbage. My husband and I have also become much more aware of what we are watching on TV and have decided that in May when our favorite show The Office is finished that we are going to swear off all sitcoms. Many of them are funny, but when you really look at the content it’s just not appropriate for little eyes. In fact, I have been on a hunt to find quality family friendly programming that is appropriate and all I can really find is PBS and The Food Network. PBS has no real commercials and the shows on the Food Network are appropriate for all audiences and the commercials don’t make me cringe!

​Maybe it’s just me getting older, but what happened to the good quality TV shows that I grew up with? You know The Cosby Show, The Muppet Show, The Brady Bunch, Little House on the Prairie. These were quality shows that everyone could enjoy together. I don’t know about you, but I really think we as a society need some good wholesome family friendly programming that we can all watch together during prime time. I really think we need television shows that bring families together. I have wonderful memories of watching The Muppet Show on Sunday Nights with my parents. There is nothing on primetime like that anymore.

​I’m even contemplating getting rid of cable all together. I mean, seriously, why pay for cable when all we are watching is PBS and The Food Network. That does seem pretty silly. But let’s not get too crazy. For now, I will be watching Downton Abbey, Food Network, and streaming reruns of the Brady Bunch from Netflix as I continue my quest for good family programming.

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  1. 2 Responses to “Adventures in Attachment Parenting: Burger Porn by Allison Silver”

  2. The Muppet Show was the best! Admittedly, the first run (not to be confused with the ill fated 90’s comeback that lasted barely a season) had its racier moments, but being as they’re now on dvd, you can screen those.

    Netflix is all we have now. I watch a lot of documentaries and British comedy, and I really like that they have some of the classic PBS stuff I grew up on like Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, and I think they had a few episodes of Electric Company, too.

    By Heather on Feb 9, 2013

  3. I’m with you, Allison! We have banned certain channels from our son and thankfully he has respected our decision.

    There are some teen sitcoms on one of the older Disney channels that are quite cute. In fact, one of them is called “Dog with a Blog!” Of course, one of my favorites. There is another one that has cast members from the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” movies. That one is adorable too. I miss having my son watching PBS Kids, Playhouse Disney, and NickToons. Even the commercials were family friendly. But as my son gets older, I watch less adult TV and spend time watching “Dog with a Blog.” At least it is appropriate TV for my son’s age and I’m getting addicted to “teen comedy,” lol!

    By Cara Meyers on Feb 9, 2013