Political Correctness Run Amok

Now I've heard it all.

Kevin Federline has had to apologize to "fast food workers" because he stars in a Super Bowl ad for Nationwide Mutual Insurance that pokes fun at french fryers. Yup. The National Restaurant Association said the ad was a "strong and direct insult to the 2.8 million Americans who work in the restaurant industry."

I am getting so sick of this. We are on a slippery slope with this where we won't be able to say anything. How far away are we from Jay Leno, David Letterman, and Saturday Night Live being banned because they actually made fun of someone!

In this week's issue of BusinessWeek, there is an article about the woman who was hired and later fired as the head of Marketing Communications for Wal*Mart. She was lured away from Chrysler due to her impressive reputation to improve the Wal*Mart brand and to broaden its appeal to higher income customers.

With her ad agency, she developed a tasteful Valentine's Day ad for lingerie that was broadcast during Desperate Housewives. One person, out of millions and millions that watched that show and ad, called in to complain and Wal*Mart executives overruled her and pulled the ad. Maybe the person was a religious zealot. Maybe a troublemaker. Maybe an employee at a competitor. Regardless, the person was watching Desperate Housewives after all.

When the sensibilities of one person controls what the rest of us see, we are in deep trouble. Having been in a position where I controlled a $20M budget that included advertising for a computer company, trust me when I say you can't please all of the people all of the time. And if that's the goal, we are crafting a scary society in which we will be confined on all sides.