These Clementines Are So Pretty!!!!!!!!!!!! But What I Am About To Post Is Not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                         Wouldn't you just love to dive into some of those luscious clementines, darlings?  If only we could!

                                            But my post here is concerned with something upsetting.

                                           Many of you know that my mother died of lung cancer, back in 1979.  And that, to this day, when I see "Sweeney Todd," and hear the lyrics, "If only angels could prevail, we'd be the way we were," I tear up, and get really upset, as these words bring out that longing in me.

                                              Yes, I know there are many well-intentioned anti-smoking commercials out there.  And that all are for the public good.  But some are too upsetting.

                                                  Back in 2008, I think, there was one of a little boy--not more than five--and his mother, walking through a crowded airport.  The mother leaves him, with no word about returning.  He is by a stairwell and moves into a corner.  He is puzzled, looks around, confused, then, slowly, then faster, the tears come, and he is crying.  The voice over says, "He lost his mom for half a minute.  Imagine if he lost her forever." The actress mother went to have a smoke.

                                                     Point taken.  But the commercial was pulled off the air, when it was discovered how this commercial was shot.  The actress and the boy were walking up the stairs; the child was told his mother would be in sight all the time. But, before reaching the top, the director, to get the child's real reaction, had the real mother vanish.  That is what caused him to cry.  I think this is cruelty and child exploitation, and I am glad this commercial is not used again.

                                                         But there is one currently airing now that is just as bad, if not worse.  Especially to those having lost a parent to cancer.

                                                          A little boy's voiceover begins singing the song "Oh, My Darling Clementine."  The boy is with his mother; maybe he calls her "Clementine." As the images change, they are still together, but the viewer slowly realizes she is going through the stages of terminal cancer. The last image has him sitting by his deceased or soon to be, mother's bed, tearfully singing "You are lost and gone forever. Dreadful sorry, Clementine."

                                                         Girls, I cannot tell you how upsetting this was to me.  I know the intentions of these ads are good, but some go too far, ignoring the sensitivities of others.

                                                            I guess I will either change the channel or walk out of the room.

                                                             And, by the way, thanks to my mother's example, I have never smoked in my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!