MetLife commercial

[Jessie]

Maybe I've been out of the loop and this has already been discussed, but has anyone seen the MetLife commercial that has a man w/Ds in it? I haven't seen it yet but Brian saw it today and said it features a young adult man with Ds and his "sister" eating breakfast . . . and the gist of the commercial says that even if something happens to her, he will be taken care of because of MetLife.

Just wondered if anyone else has seen this yet.


Jessie

[Ericsmomma]

Jessie,
Yes, a few months ago...I love it! The guy and his sister seem to be having a ball.
Very nice commercial with a good message.

[myangelsaliandsadi]

Yep I saw it a few months ago too. Having a kid puts you out of loop sometimes!

[Kristen]

I saw it and I hate it. My first thought was gee, this is what I have to look forward to - a Cheerio flinger who can only pretend to read the paper? GREAT STEREOTYPE!

[CC]

JESSIE girl actually this commercial has been around for quite sometime now

Hmmmm KRISTEN just wondering BUT why do you assume from this commercial that the boy is just "Pretending" to read the paper Do you have info that the rest of us don't?? I mean can this boy not read?? And not for nothing BUT Hmmmm have you never not fling-ed something at a Love One as a loving gesture and just being cute not meaning you are just a " Cheerio flinger"

Just wondering how this commercial made you jump to those two conclusions

CC~

[Kristen]

I have actually seen it a number of times and came to that conclusion after thinking hmm...Then I saw it and watched it closer and thought hmm...some more. THEN a friend of mine said have you seen that awful commercial? What is THAT supposed to be? Then I said ok, thank you, I must not be the only one! Then I saw it discussed on another board where they were saying similar statements to my observation and I was like ok, thank you, I am secure in my thoughts and general dislike for the commerical. And then my life went happily along.

Can the boy read? I would certainly hope so! In my esitmation as well as that of several others he was not portrayed as such. It was more along the lines of the eternally happy guy than anything else and I chalked it up to buying into the stereotype. Oh, and no, I have never flung something at a loved one as any kind of gesture.

Oh, and for future consideration, you might want to hide the overriding disdain you have for me. There are people who would like to come here and post their thoughts and compater them with others and even more who want to read and gain information because they have recently recieved a dx or are going through a rough time. All that eye rolling and sarcasm detracts from their experience and might make them not want to return. I would not want them to lose this as a resource.

[Chester]

I like the commercial.

It happened to be protrayed by an adult brother and sister combo, it could have just as easily been a daughter and an elderly mother, or father and his young children.

It's marketing. They were suppose to be relaxed and jovial, because they don't have the weight of the world on their shoulders of the dreaded "what if question". All of their troubles were swept away purchasing life insurance.

Everyone is entitled to view the marketing machine in their own way. I saw it as a brother and sister eating some breakfast, reading the paper, before they BOTH went off to work.

[bluebird]

I like the commercial too.

At first (and sometimes now) it strikes me in a sad way, because I am an older sister and worry about the future sometimes. All in all, I think it's a cute commerical showing two siblings.

[Debbie]

I liked the commerical too. I thought it was cute. He just wanted to get his sister's attention and be funny at the same time. I did wonder if he was "reading" the newspaper but, that was not the message they were trying to convey. I liked the way the commerical was handled however.

There is another commerical a Hallmark one, where the sister comes over to her brother's house to eat dinner with him. He is an adult who has Down syndrome. He is showing off his new house to her. It ends up with them eating dinner together. I like this one the most. It shows off the life of this man and how successful an adult with Down syndrome can be.

[Jessie]

Ok, now I really wish that I would have actually seen the commercial and not just heard about it so I could get a good opinion on how it comes across.

I'm thinking though, Kristen, maybe the man with Ds is really just not that convincing of an actor. You have to assume that actors are not really reading anyway, so maybe he just wasn't very convincing and it wasn't supposed to come across that he was pretending to read, KWIM?


Jessie

[Debbie]

I'm staying out of this.

[andrewsmom]

I always smile when I see that commercial. It just makes me feel good.....I don't know why, maybe because I interpret it as the love between a brother and sister.
-Trisha

[Debbie]

I agree with you Trisha. I see the same thing.

[MB]

Kristen,

Your response to the commercial made me smile and the commercial made me smile! How could this be?

When my son was six weeks old, I went to my Dr. for the requisite post partum check up. I really let him have it for completely ignoring me. My son was born while he was on vacation. He never bothered to call and check on me.

He tried to cheer me up by saying that his brother-in-law had Down syndrome, lived in an apartment and never missed a day of work at his job - washing dishes. My response was, "WASHING DISHES, I'M SUPPOSED TO KILL MYSELF DOING THERAPIES FOR THIS KID, DEPLETE OUR LIFE SAVINGS CARING FOR HIM AND THIS IS WHAT I HAVE TO LOOK FORWARD TO - WASHING DISHES? GEE, THANKS "

Now, I wish I could see that Dr. (who went into academic medicine at the Mayo Clinic) and tell him that I would love to hear everything about his brother-in-law. I would want to know about the challenges of living on his own, what it is about his job that he loves and anything else that he wished to share.

I had to let go of who I wanted my son to be and accept who my son wanted to be even if that included dishwashing.

My son has an older sister. That kitchen table scenario is exactly what I see happening when he goes to visit her someday at her grown up apartment (she is still in college). Although my son can read, he would certainly prefer goofing on his sister. I thought the sister exuded love, warmth and a sense of thoroughly enjoying her brother.

I hope you will always express your opinion. Because, you give a voice to others who may be thinking the same thing.

[wrblack]

I've seen that ad several times. And always liked it. Think I've seen a different TV ad where young man with Ds is moving into his own place. Liked that too. But still don't know who the young man with Ds is in the MetLife ad. And didn't know until just a little while ago that the sister is portrayed by an actress, writer, director who really does have a brother with Ds, Eva Fisher. I think that's neat.
I asked Gail Williamson if she knew anything about this ad. She answered,
<< I know a lot about the Met Life ad. They were going to be filming in NY so they wanted to cast from there. The producer couldn’t find a young man with ds that they wanted to cast, so I held auditions in L.A. and asked Eva Fisher to play the sister in the tape. Eva wrote an independent feature "Heartland" loosely based on her and her brother with ds. Blair played the brother in the film. We sent the audition tape with 10 young men and Eva to NY. They called and said "We want Eva, we think we can hire a boy with ds here if we have Eva." So off she went to film in NY. >>
I haven't seen the indy film Heartland, but would like to. Gotta watch out for ads. Sometimes there are real people with real stories behind them, guess that's what makes them effective, sometimes. But they don't have to work for everybody. 'Course, MB's right, what doesn't work for you today, might tomorrow, or next week or next year.
Cheers,
Bob

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