Heart Specialist
EDIT: This video has been removed at the request of copyright owner Sony Electronics, Inc. because its content was used without permission
This commercial annoys me on so many levels. First of all, being born with half a heart is a very real and serious heart birth defect. I know several families who have children born with HLHS (hypoplastic left heart syndrome)through my online CHD (congenital heart defects) groups. If it's not bad enough that the commercial makes light of being born with "half a heart", the commercial continues with the doctor having been born with 2 hearts! Wow, how convenient. THEN... she does open-heart surgery on this guy - on the sidewalk, in the rain - the man wakes up in the ambulance to see a heart-shaped scar on his chest. Oh puhlease! Then he asks the doctor what she did with the other half of her extra heart and there's a little "orphan savant" boy with a heart shaped scar on his chest and he calls the man (who just had heart surgery) "papa'". If the man is his dad then he isn't an orphan afterall, right? Another thing, if the doctor gave the man 1/2 of her extra heart and then gave the other 1/2 to the boy... why doesn't she have a scar on her chest? How did she do the heart surgery on herself? Oh wait... maybe she kept the extra heart in her pocket just for emergencies just like this one.
My daughter has had 5 heart surgeries and I just checked... nope.. not one scar in the shape of a heart. Silly us taking her to the hospital for her heart surgeries when we could have just had a stranger perform it on the sidewalk, in the rain, without anesthesia or ventilation, etc. Can you imagine the money we could have saved not staying in PICU for weeks at a time?
I also noticed near the beginning of the commercial they clicked on "ending for women". Does Sony really think women are that dumb?
I welcome any thoughts and opinions. (but no spam)
17 comments:
I found the commercial quite obnoxious. Being a father of 2 children with hearth defects.
I am sadden by many "grown-ups" having a "Disney" perspective of the world. This commercial is not helping the general knowledge level in society.
But at least the screen on the tv is as flat as the mind of the company paying for this crap commercial...
Nicolas Olsen (Denmark - Father to Luna 23-28. november 2003 (born with HLHS) and Victor Cornelius 27. april 2005 (born with L-TGA/CCTGA)
Oh my God! How dumb! As you know Zoe had essentially "Half a Heart" (Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome or called HRHS) the opposite of HLHS... that it really is infuriating! Just sickening!
Tammy, Proud Mom to:
Zoë (Forever 5)7-20-99 to 9-5-04 and Zurik (23 months old)
Yes, I wondered what is the ending for men? I mean, if they are implying that women want to give men a bigger heart, should we assume the ending for guys is that he give her bigger breasts? Oh, wait, that means he would have been born a boob....
Sorry, Nancy, but I thought the question was worth asking....ROFL Hope I didn't offend in any way...just delete my comment if you want....ha! I won't be hurt...
Tammy, you are right! That commercial is infuriating! I had mentioned HLHS in my original post but yes, Zoe's HRHS is also considered "half a heart". The people who made this commercial are so very ignorant.
Try not to let it bother you too much, Tammy, and if you feel like writting to the Sony company, let me know. I am contemplating writting to them myself.
Jenny, no offense taken. LOL! Many men could use "bigger" hearts - or in other words, more compassion. Bigger breasts for women is not even in the same category as compassion is. Don't even get me started on the subjet of men being boobs. haha!
I do like your way of thinking though. I wonder if they will make an "ending for men". I'm sure it would involve something blowing up, gunshots flying everywhere and the man rescuing a scantily clad woman.
You know, I've not even *bothered* watching it. Because I know if I do, I'll just get really really pissed of and rant and rave as only I can.
So I'll just skip it and slap my forehead in the direction of Sony with a big fat "Duh!"
I am also thinking of writing to them... If only it were "that easy" - Zoe would be here today. Just ignorant ~
First of all, I can totally understand why this is nowhere near amusing for you. I don't think it would be unreasonable for you to voice your opinion to Sony about it.
However, especially if you visit the site and watch the other "endings" -- all four are definitely supposed to be ridiculous and funny. For some people the "half a heart" statement would be something they wouldn't know anything about and so they might think it was a joke, but when she says "don't worry, I was born with two" I think it's supposed to clearly place it in the realm of the melodramatic and absurd (and then obviously doing the surgery in the street, I think everyone would see that that's impossible). Of the four endings, the heart one makes the least sense, in a way; and yet in a way I sort of appreciate that they had one where the woman is all competent and saving the day and stuff, not just obsessed with fashion or whatever.
The two "male" endings I thought were rather funny spoofs, one of a sports type movie, one of an anime type.
I hope I'm making sense -- again, I don't blame you a bit for not seeing any humor in it.
Sam, where can I find the other endings? I'd like to see them just for "fun". LOL
I can clearly see that this ending to the commercial was made out of pure and simple ignorance. Apparently there have been a few other families who have children born with heart defects who have contacted the company. I have no idea if Sony intends to pull the commercial or not. I haven't actually seen it on TV but was told that it was on during "Gray's Anatomy" last week.
I see your point about the commercial showing the woman saving the day - but it's just too far out there. I love to see commercials, movies, tv shows, etc that show that women are competent and help the community every bit as much as men. Too bad Sony did it in such a ridiculous way.
Thanks for your comments and I look forward to seeing the other commercials with different "endings".
Hi Nicolas,
I've tried clicking on the link you provided with your name but I keep getting the message "server not found". I want to thank you for your comments.
Wow, you have two children with CHD? They must keep you very busy! If you have a site with your family on it, I'd love to see it.
Thanks again,
Nancy
Pah, I watched the ad.
I'm going to write to Sony UK see if they have plans to air it, and let them know how crappy it is :D
I think what really gets me is that someone would want to make light and fun of a severe condition. A condition that claims the lives of many babies and children each day. One that I watched my daughter vigilantly fight for her five years on this earth only to lose this terrible battle in the end. I'm sure that they wouldn't make 'Light' and 'fun' of the other countless ailments and conditions out there (especially the one's that are the most life threatening) just to make a buck (or it seems as if they would)... I'm hoping that they just didn't do the correct research... Maybe there are people out there that would in fact find it amusing, but if they have never endured watching their child go into surgery after surgery and in the end holding their dying child in their arms... If you have walked in these shoes I know for a fact that you too would understand and find it appalling. And even if you haven't the commercial is just plain corny. One out of every 100 babies born in the US alone are born with a congenital heart condition... Doesn't that make up a tremendous viewing audience??? Hmmm... I did write to them and I hope that it does in fact make a difference.
~Tammy, Proud Mom to Zoe (Forever 5) and Zurik (2 years old)
Tammy, I found out about a conversation held between the head of marketing for Sony and a CHD parent. Apparently the marketing guy was very appologetic and did not have any idea that it was possible to be born with half a heart and that if he had, he never would have done a commercial about it. He appologized and didn't even make any excuses.
I hope that education is the key here... especially since 1 in every 100 children are born with CHD. I never knew about CHD until my daughter was born then it seemed that a lot of people just came out of the woodwork with stories of relatives of theirs or even their own children being born with CHD. In my pre-Jessica days (if I can remember that far back - lol) I might have thought that the commercial was corny but possibly funny. Afterall, I was born with extra fingers and an extra toe. Several years ago Saturday Night Live did a hilarious fake commercial about how to get rid of those annoying extra fingers. I was rolling laughing because it was so ridiculous! BUT - being born with extra digits is NOT a life threatening defect and most times easily fixed. Of course if being born with extra digits were life threatening and caused a life-time of misery, then the SNL commercial would have stunk every bit as much as this Sony one does.
So.... hopefully we can educate people about CHD and they won't be ignorantly making fun of a very serious and deadly birth defect.
Yeah, I really don't think it was done maliciously. Just ignorance -- though that doesn't necessarily make it any less painful for those who have to face it. What an encouraging thought -- that they might even apologize without excuses!
I agree that education is key.
The other endings are at sony.com/hdtv -- or you could probably find them on youtube, I'm not sure what to search for though....
I went to thier site at http://www.bravia-advert.com/paint/yourview/ and filled out a comment about how much I hated the ad.
Glad to hear that no excuses were made and I am happy that they were just unaware of this condition. I had a feeling that they just lacked the proper research prior to making the commercial (you'd think they would want to double check everything before spending that much money and time)... Although making 'light' of having a heart condition (and that was an obvious fact in the commercial) I don't feel like was in good context no matter if it were a "true" condition or not. Just tasteless...
And as a member of another group pointed out - imagine how infuriated the people who have lost loved one's to say... lung cancer would feel if they up and did a lung transplant on the sidewalk like that...
Yes, Education is key... It's sad that when it comes to one of the most common (and life threatening) birth defects out there people still are unaware.
I honestly didn't think about CHD's either before Zoe was born and it is amazing how many people out there "came out of the wood work" after she was born. If only we could get more money allocated for research and public awareness.
Nancy,
I don't know how much good it will do but I put "severe" comments on the Sony/Bravia website as well. Email me privately if you want to know the comments I made specifically.
Gabrielle
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