Where to begin with hating this commercial: first, as a soon-to-be-liberated AT&T customer, I cringe at the thought of AT&T bragging it’s got more of anything. (A post for another day). But also I find this commercial to be – and not to overstate its importance – an example of some of the things that are wrong with America. The commercial involves a guy in a suit talking to a bunch of children (what’s he doing in their classroom, hawking AT&T? Just yuck). He asks about whether “more” is better than “less.” They exploit the children babbling about why they like “more.” The kids are clearly thinking about things like ice cream and candy when they say, “When you like something, you want more.” A smug announcer comes on at the end and manipulates their childish sentiments into being an endorsement for AT&T.
But I hate this commercial on a more fundamental level too. It celebrates this sense of excess and consumption that is so detrimental to our society. It states, as an “obvious” thing that “more” is always better than “less.” Is more fatty food better than less? More war? More poverty? More planes and cars and pollution? It riles me up so much I have to mute it every time it’s on, and it’s on all the time.
I know one way in which less is better than more… less of this commercial, please