Dad tip #74: Advertising permeates EVERYTHING

Traffic has been frakkin' ridiculous the last two days. I've spent close to four hours in the car over the course of two days and I only live eleven miles away from the office. That's just wrong.

Not moving in the car, I noticed something interesting. I found myself thinking, "Mmm ... tequila." This isn't a totally crazy thing as I love tequila, but I'm usually not thinking it at 7:30 in the morning. Why was I thinking this? Because there was a gigantic billboard advertising Don Julio tequila.

By the time I'd reached the office this morning, I noticed that I'd also passed billboards for Coors, Corona, and Ketel One vodka. On the way home I noticed billboards for Heineken, Bud Lime, and Patron Silver tequila. That a lot of alcohol advertising covering just an eleven mile stretch!

It occurred to me that at some point in the future, my son is going to be inundated with advertising. It'll be coming at him in ways that I'd never even imagined and it'll start targeting him sooner than I'd suspect.

I remember a couple of stories my sister told me about my niece. Before she could speak full sentences she began associating the colors orange and pink with Dunkin' Donuts and she also associated the GAP logo with "the baby store" because of apparently memorable trips to Baby GAP.

How scary is that? Now, I'm a grown adult and a stupid billboard had me subconsciously craving tequila first thing in the morning. What's advertising going to do to my kid? There's not really any advice here other than to think about all the advertising your kid will get exposed to and to at least be aware of it.

Now, I'm going to go try some Jarro Viejo tequila that my friend brought back for me from her recent vacation.