Waiting for Gouda

I don’t know about where you live, but here in the great Midwest, there is apparently a significant problem with something called “meth”. I know this because there is a recent series of television commercials that have been showing right there on my TV. Actually, I guess these would be public service announcements, or what we in the business like to call “PSA”s.

PSAs are just like commercials, except instead of trying to get you to do something, like buy your girlfriend a ring that only costs two months’ salary (and maybe the hands of twelve Sierra Leone orphans), they try to get you to NOT do something. Like date raping someone, or failing to read a book, or hating midgets.

Or do meth, in some cases. However, I must once again question the strategy of the creators of these particular PSAs. There is one in particular, which I’m pretty sure is intended to make me come damn near to the point of tears as I listen to some rural tween describe how her daddy was arrested for making and/or taking and/or selling meth. Trouble is… and I’m not ashamed to say it. Much.

It makes me laugh. I’m sure it has something to do with the brilliant comic timing of the girl. She starts out talking about her how much she used to like hangin’ in her kitchen (I’m paraphrasing here) until that one day when… Wham! her father started using it for making meth. Now everybody knows the incongruity theory of humor (except, perhaps the creators). Essentially, when you have certain expectations for a situation or a story someone is telling you, and something surprising happens, our tendency is to laugh. Or possibly have a stroke, depending on just how surprising we’re talking. But since we’re talking about a PSA, it’s laughter.

So I find myself laughing at the fact that this little girl’s dad is in jail. Probably not what they wanted.

Maybe I’m evil. Maybe I think too much about what I see on TV.

Or maybe the guys who made this PSA suck at their jobs.