Shame on You
As someone with an anxiety disorder, I tend to be more sensitive to media and news than others. Because of this, I keep an eye out for anything I might find panic-inducing. Even without my political leanings, I wouldn't watch Fox News because they seem to classify everything as "breaking news" and just the words "breaking news" kick start my brain into a downhill spiral of worry about what happened, where it was, whether or not anyone I care about might have been hurt, what's going to happen, how strong the foundation of my house is, who the known nuclear powers are, and on and on until I'm hunkered in the bath tub with my dog and a bag of Oreos preparing for the end of the world.
You can just imagine how exhausting that would be as a daily routine. (Which is why I didn't get much done in 2002, but that's another story for another day.)
I actually try to avoid most 24-hour news channels (Internet news is much better for me), scary movies and stories about single women killed in their beds by strangers because of the anxious thoughts that ensue.
So you can probably see why I'm not so happy when people sneak the scary into commercials. I can't plan for ads -- they don't put those on the digital cable menu. (Also, I work from home during the day with the Style and Lifetime networks on. Why I should ever see a commercial for anything other than Midol, diapers and selling my gold for cash, I do not know.) And If I had to choose the biggest offender in this scary ad category, it would be Brinks Home Security Systems.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K8DKH7tCRU&hl=en&fs=1&&w=425&h=344]
Brinks doesn't just portray break-ins on TV. Apparently, in their brilliant marketing strategy, they've decided that the best way to sell security systems is to scare the be-jesus out of people. They only portray the most violent and nightmarish of break-ins. If someone comes into your house, it won't be a drug addict picking up jewelry while you're at work. No, if someone comes into your house, it's going to be a huge thug that attacks (by throwing open the front door and glaring, by the way) the moment you leave your teenage daughter home alone, when your wife and small children are home in the middle of the day or as soon as you dare to put on headphones for a run on the treadmill.