Hunger Therapy

Possibly the most irritating ad on Hong Kong television at the moment depicts a small child shoving the dinner plate away because he doesn't like the food.

But that's not the annoying part. What bugs me most is that the instant Mr. Picky refuses to eat, Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa go into conniptions, throwing their hands in the air, shaking their heads and generally gnashing their teeth because the Little Emperor isn't getting proper nutrition. The commercial then goes on to promote a tasty drink to "fill in the gaps" in Junior's diet.

Right.

When I tried that crap when I was a kid, either I was made to sit at the table until I finished every last Lima bean on my plate (to this day the sight of Lima beans turns my stomach) or I got sent to my room to contemplate the error of my ways. It didn't take too many hungry nights to gain an appreciation that our house wasn't a restaurant and Dad wasn't a waiter.

We ate what we were given, end of story. We may not have always liked what was put in front of us, but we accepted it because Dad had the wisdom not to cave in to our pickiness. He made sure we were well fed and and succeeded in not turning us into spoiled brats.

Yet this ad implies that supposed adults can be led around by the nose by a fussy child and that the solution is to capitulate and serve him an artificial, sweetened beverage, and then to drive the point home it shows the adults congratulating the kid when he measures a little taller on the handy old wall chart. The whole concept is daft; there's a much easier solution than filling the grocery cart with bottles of goop.

If the kid refuses to eat, let him go hungry until he learns the value of food.

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