DirecTV is now running a new version of the “Turn Back Time” ad featuring Bon Jovi. It looks just like the earlier one, except that now turning back time re-unites the female side of the satellite TV-watching couple with her old boyfriend, as her current partner looks on in horror. This is a major improvement over the first version, as it doesn’t make a wall-drawing kid vanish into the ether as his parents smile at ridding themselves of an unwanted child.
Maybe this is just an effort to vary the theme. I’d like to think, however, that enough ethics alarms went off among viewers and maybe even DirecTV executives that they realized that the original ad was more ugly than funny, and pulled it for a more ethical version that doesn’t tell us that this corporation thinks vaporizing children is hilarious.
Don’t disillusion me. I can’t always feel like I’m screaming in the wilderness here.
Ethics Alarms 
I’m a DirecTV subscriber, and I sent them an e-mail, including a link to your article and asked them to reconsider the ad. My guess, since my voice alone would have been ignored, whole bunch of other people did, too. You may swing more power than you know.
Go ahead, set me up for a fall…
My favorite Jack Nicklaus, compulsive perfectionist, advice: “When someone gives you a compliment, accept it gracefully.”
What’s the worst they can do…sue? A practicing attorney, and ethics specialist over an ethics issue? Guess who wins that one!
Getting sued is not the fall Jack was referring to. Think more of the ‘deadly’ sins like vanity.
Is THAT what that was about? “Fall” equals “one more disappointment.” Sorry—thought I was clear. They can’t sue me, not successfully anyway.
It was clear. Come on, Jack. A little more Forrest Gump and a little less Eeyore at times can’t hurt anything, can it?
It would sure be nice if EA had some small part in ditching the child-vanishing ad, because I have gotten more abusive comments on the original post than any other since my last anti-pot essay. I just spammed two more. Apparently I have no sense of humor, don’t get slapstick, and am a typical liberal.