Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Leave Taylor Swift Alone

I saw a segment on the Today show stating that Taylor Swift
signing with Diet Coke has upset many.
The lady in this video states that she "was horrified" to find out
that she was working with the company because of the
message that it sends to her young fans, during
an obesity epidemic.

Give me a break people!
We are not raising idiots.
Kids can handle the truth and we can help teach them that commercials are meant
to entice us to desire a product or to feel it is something we need.
That's the advertiser's job.
I wrote a little about it in a post called
Informed Consumers: Starting Young.
Check it out if you missed it.

My job, as a parent, is to teach them the difference 
between marketing ploys and reality.
I asked my daughter and 8 of her friends what they knew about soda,
and they stated a clear knowledge that pop has no nutritional value.
Most people, I dare say, know by now that soda is not in a healthy food group.
The youngest group of fans, like my 10 year old,
is most likely to drink Diet Coke...
when and if their own parent buys it.
So let's leave Taylor Swift out of this argument for now.

Don't get me wrong, advertising is powerful, and I am weary of it's affects on my kids.
This is why I try to discuss these things with them now,
and pray for the times when I am not as nearly as present of a force in their
decision making.
I hope that they are prepared.

The hits just keep coming for Taylor.
On Fox News online, they are discussing her
"serial celebrity dating."
Again, let's leave her alone.
She's a young woman that is not in and out of jail,
doesn't appear to have a drug problem,
doesn't hold her child over a balcony,
hasn't run off and gotten married and divorced in the same year,
and
isn't photographed daily being drunk or stoned.

For now, she is just a 23 year old who dates, A LOT,
and, to several young man's misfortune,
writes about many of the breakup details.

Actually, a lot of song writers write about their own life experience.
Heck, some write horrible things about cops, gang violence,
and sex in great detail.


Now, I am not saying I would want to risk dating her but it doesn't seem
like a big shocker.
Girls her age tend to date.
This isn't such a big deal in my opinion.

So, in full disclosure, I must tell you...
I find myself often listening to Taylor Swift's old albums and her new one, "Red",
by choice...
even when I am in the car alone.
I like her easy to sing-with pop songs.
I like that she is a song writer too.
I like that she wrote an awesome one about her parents called, The Best Day.
Check out the sweet lyrics HERE.
I like that all of my girls and I know the words and sing together
while Porter and Howie roll their eyes.
I think that I have a motherly crush on that crazy girl.

Anyone else out there think the headlines are a little too much?
Or maybe I'm a bit crazy?

1 comment:

Susannah said...

I totally agree. I think we should let even celebrities live their lives without so much judgement. Even if she is making mistakes (which I don't really think she is), she should be allowed to make those mistakes without so much judgement, just like the rest of us!