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Cringe Alert

Brian Watt
@BrianWatt
Join to bookmark16likesJoin to like67comments

Wait for it: the scene at the end of this new Target commercial.

Who doesn't want to see a male teacher in pajamas jumping up in front of his classroom of young boys and girls also wearing pajamas? Yes, I'm an old fuddy-duddy from a bygone generation. Suffice to say that if something like this were proposed at an elementary school when I was a student, parents would have marched on the school with torches and pitchforks and demanded the immediate firing of teachers and other school officials.

I realize I'm out of touch on many current events and what's happening in the American school system since my son left it. But is this the new normal in America? Do elementary schools really have "Pajama Days," where male teachers are instructed or look forward to prancing around the classroom or school campus in pajamas amongst children between the ages of six and eleven years old?

Is Target's target market for this promotion parents? Children? Or the occasional sexual predator masquerading as a teacher, school counselor or administrator?

It's clear that Target has diminished its previous militant support for the LGBTQ+whatever movement and transgender psychosis with targeted apparel because of the bad publicity and the hit to its revenue stream. But did anyone in the Target marketing department or its advertising agency stop to consider that a male teacher in pajamas just might not be an appropriate visual?

I'm sure the marketing team at Jaguar approves. So, there is that.

This post was promoted to the Main Feed at the recommendation of Ricochet's members.

Discussion (67)

  • Henry Racette@HenryRacette

    Brian, I'm about as fuddy as they come when it comes to education everything, but this one doesn't bother me. When educating at home was no longer an option and I put my youngest three into high school, they attended the little Catholic school I attended during my elementary years. Then and now, that school had a dress code, and the two or three weeks during the year when that dress code was relaxed were generally thematic, e.g. Monday was sports day, Tuesday was twins day, Wednesday was pajama day, etc. It seems harmless to me, which is saying something given that, according to the kids I tutor, my middle name is "Fun-crusher."

  • Old Bathos@OldBathos
    ReplyingtoBrian Watt

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    Pajamas day is a real thing. Teachers and students are expected to be in pjs. That the teacher in the ad kept his dress shirt and tie is a plus–it could have been worse.

    Brian Watt (View Comment):

    There aren’t enough facepalms.

    My wife the teacher dutifully goes to school in tasteful pjs and a robe on pj day.

    Glad I left teaching many years before this was a thing. Would hate to have to show up in my gown and nightcap from the Ebeneezer Scrooge collection at Sears. Although it would have looked pretty sharp if I wore my smoking jacket over it.

  • Brian Watt@BrianWatt
    ReplyingtoHenry Racette

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    Brian, I’m about as fuddy as they come when it comes to education everything, but this one doesn’t bother me. When educating at home was no longer an option and I put my youngest three into high school, they attended the little Catholic school I attended during my elementary years. Then and now, that school had a dress code, and the two or three weeks during the year when that dress code was relaxed were generally thematic, e.g. Monday was sports day, Tuesday was twins day, Wednesday was pajama day, etc. It seems harmless to me, which is saying something given that, according to the kids I tutor, my middle name is “Fun-crusher.”

    If years of transgender indoctrination and incidents of sexual predation by teachers, counselors, and administrators hadn't been evident in the school system, I might agree with you.

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