Cool No More

So we don’t watch a lot of TV. As a corollary to that, we definitely don’t watch a lot of commercials. I mean, yeah, we watch the Super Bowl for the ads, but in general we try to miss them as much as possible. We were early adopters of Tivo; being able to watch TV when we wanted to instead of when the networks said we had to watch it was pretty amazing. Not having to watch commercials was just the cherry on the top.

All of this is to say that I am not up on the newest ads. I couldn’t tell you about the cute kids that are hawking peanut butter or Doritos or anything else. I have no idea who is the most recent Revlon girl. Don’t really care, for that matter. I did enjoy the Snickers commercial with Betty White back at Super Bowl time, and I’ve seen it once or twice since then, but for the most part I just don’t have any use for someone trying to make me buy something.

Which is why I’m so surprised at how hard I laughed at the Sienna commercials.

I’m already a minivan mom. I have been for years. Granted, I’ve got the one that has the seats that fold down into the floor; I wouldn’t want the other kind where, if you want extra space you have to physically remove the benches. (Where are you supposed to put them? What if you’re on the road and you buy some stuff and you need space for them? Do you just not have seats anymore? It just doesn’t make sense to me.)

I don’t need this new minivan. I am completely happy with what I’ve got. But lemme tell ya, this thing’s got some features that I love. If one appeared in my garage, I wouldn’t complain.

But better than the van, the commercials crack me up. The self-absorbed parents who are convinced that their minivan is the epitome of cool (as are they, themselves) makes me realize that, yeah, I’m a parent and yeah, I’m uncool, but it’s ok. I’m not supposed to be cool. Nor is my van.

And I’m cool with that.