Kid gloves come off for tots in ads

From the Wall Street Journal:

"In a recent Netflix ad created by Omnicom Group's Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, two parents are easily diverted from watching what appear to be their baby's first steps by the arrival of a Neftlix envelope through the mail slot in the front door. The baby wanders offscreen and a thud is heard. "What's better than a movie in your mailbox?" the commercial asks.

In a recent commercial for PepsiCo's Diet Pepsi, created by Omnicom's BBDO Worldwide, a father ignores a baby's wailing in favor of watching a sporting event. "Sweetie? I'll be right there to help," he calls. "I'm on my way." Seconds later, we find that he has missed the delivery of his newborn child. To make up for it, he shares a sports-game moment with the swaddled infant.

But critics aren't amused. Commercials depicting parental neglect promote "the sort of notion that parents are really worse than they have ever been, and not doing what they need to be doing," says Susan Nall Bales of FrameWorks Institute, a nonprofit Washington think tank that researches American attitudes on social issues. "These kinds of ads, they pollute the public discourse."