by Ed Klein, Peoria, IL

It used to be, what with all the violent programming on TV, you could count on the commercials for a little respite – if often inane and hard to figure out. But no longer. For example, we have those SafeAuto commercials where some innocent guy is beset with a series of kicks in the crotch and apparently suffers considerable pain. Is that really intended to convince me to shuck my current auto policy for a SafeAuto policy?

If that hasn’t been working for them, they now have a follow up where another guy, walking along minding his own business, is approached by a series of perpetrators who each give him a wedgie, and at the end leave him hanging on a door supported by his shorts. I don’t know who writes and OKs these commercials, but they sure do have an obsession with genital pain.

Capitol One is another outfit that seems to dote on violence. Remember the barbarians armed to the teeth with swords, clubs, maces and other war-like paraphernalia who invade a department store and vandalize it while customers cower in fear? Nifty way to make us think kindly of Capitol One, wouldn’t you say?

One doesn’t have to watch TV very long to see other commercials that base their messages on violence. If not against people, against property. All in the name of what they apparently think of as humor, or fun.

Then, there’s the program on TruTV titled “The World’s Dummest.” If you haven’t seen it, congratulate yourself. It features really stupid stunts attempted by really stupid people … stunts that invariably go wrong and end in a catastrophe. It’s obvious serious injury is being suffered, but to add to the stupidity, a group of comedians make goofy comments and apparently see a lot of humor in someone suffering.

Violence has become a stock in trade for many who seek our business or want to entertain us. Having spent my working life in the advertising trade developing and writing commercials for radio and TV, and in public relations and marketing, I’m puzzled by this turn in advertising and entertainment. Has it become passé for commercials to present a client’s products or services in an appealing manner?

I must also ask, are our sensibilities changing so much these days that fear and revulsion, cruelty and insensibility are now the ways to see products and services?

Are we seeing a trend – a dangerous trend – in the way people think and what motivates them? We should be alarmed when the governor of Texas boasts about executing 284 people and his listeners go wild with applause. And we should ask, what is happening when another candidate for president says it’s everybody’s personal responsibility to look after themselves financially without government help in the form of Medicare or Medicaid, even when the old are broke and facing a serious and expensive illness. In other words: “Tough. You’re on your own.” These are people who tout their Christianity and tell us they talk to God, who motivates them. To that, the only thing I can say is, God help us all!