Where Free-Play Stops and Censorship Begins

Is it a dog, or that chick from "The Simple Life"?

A familiar sight, I take it? Yes? Well, it certainly wasn't twenty years ago, but does that really matter?--is the question.

If you're apart of one of the markets who have not yet seen the Paris Hilton Carls Jr. Commercial, then you are soon to be seeing it every other hour on TV like the rest of us. And if you don't have a television or cable subscription or satellite or antenna, then you can check out the commercial here.

In the commercial, Hilton prances around a car eating that Mondo-Burger they have at Carls Jr. She also plays with bubbles and admires herself in about everyway possible that doesn't include the nudity in her infamous 40-minute A Night in Paris.

And, I admit, the whole thing is a pretty damn arousing tease, but, let's be honest: it doesn't belong on Network TV. Now, I'm all for putting this type of thing on HBO a channel that my faith in the American Family hopes the standard child rarely lays on, if it draws in buyers. But, in all honesty, does a male viewing this commerical make them want to buy more burgers? It might make them want to buy more of something else, but that's off the subject.

I'm willing to defend humorous, witty television "Desperate Housewives", but to be airing this kind of commercial regularly in primetime-slots is rather absurd. What'll be the next channel to pick it up? The History Channel? Nickelodeon? Disney?

Now, it's not what Hilton does in the commercial that bothers me, but rather that it's treated as normal, fun behavior that should be done in public. And, granted those who it will affect the most aren't old enough to consider doing it, but if the youth of today gets used to this kind of thing, we're likely to be airing pornography (and worse) as daytime programming.

I understand that censorship is very subjective, considering that I, as a sixteen-year-old, face the limitations of the MPAA every time I go to the movies by myself. But, can't we just institute the basic rule that commercials have to be PG-rated?

Parents can pick up the useful tools needed to filter out shows that they do not want their kids to see; personal responsibility is a major factor in that. But something as versitile and free-ranging as a commercial can play at any time of the day, during any show, on any channel willing to accept it. It's just not the type of thing that should be pressed.

But advertisers will be advertisers and, as a corporation-supporting conservative, it's kind of discouraging to see them try to get away with things like this. But, hey, it's just a reminder that the government needs to be there to do certain things. Too bad it's so lax on censorship. I certainly don't want to see, in twenty years, that Michael Jackson writes and produces the programs that my children watch on Saturday Mornings.