6 packs

At home, we discuss a lot about health and fitness.  The basic idea of '6 packs' is something that Aditya always gets excited about.  Many time he removes his clothes, poses like a body builder and asks "do you see my 8 packs?".  Do not tell him this, I usually spot 8 bones there.

Also, on many occasions he punches my abs and says…"well its quite tight, but Dad! you have only 4 packs….go do some more work out…!!"  I get loads of free advices from my 9 year old on this topic.  Anyways I'm on my way, like any other men who can dream, on this 'packs' topic.  But in reality, I don't regret and I'm glad that even I have 6 packs.  They are well protected under a thick layer of fat.  Its just that I'm not ready to show it off yet.

It was a lazy late Saturday evening and the whole family was huddled in our car to do some shopping.  When we reached Aundh Parihar Chowk in Pune, suddenly Aditya screamed. He was certainly excited about something.  Pointing his finger towards something outside he said "Wow Appa! Look at these 6 packs…..! They are so Cool....".   For a flash of a second I thought he was showing an ad for a newly sprouted Gym in the neighborhood.  When I bent down to see what he was showing I was under a chill for a brief moment.  At the same instance even Meera noticed this and gave a gentle press on my shoulder indicating that something was going wrong (this is a most common routine these days).  I wanted to appear as if I wasn't embarrassed about the situation, kept my cool and asked "What is cool about it?" .  What he showed me was an ad hoarding for a male c*****m product.  The ad read "why boys like 6 packs".  There were 6 different colorful flavored  c*****m packets displayed under 4000 watts flood lights.

"Appa! is this a similar protein supplement that we saw in Gold Gym? What is a  c*****m and why they are flavored? What does it do to our 6-packs? Why don't you start using them? (Damn….!!!)" ....the flood gates opened and the flow of questions from my dearest son started gushing yet another time.

I'm always ready to give a lecture to anyone about this protection (protected?) topic. But chums, don't you think a 9 year old is too early to be my student for this subject?

Epilogue: Any ways, I'm aware that the ad makers target the young and the little ones to create a strong influence about the product or brand they put on their ad campaign.  The ad companies started these techniques with Health Drinks, Biscuits, Chocolates, Ice Creams, Diapers, Detergents ... now a days even Automobiles….Insurance products….Paints…even Engine Oils.  This approach is certainly doing a lot of good things to the campaign.  But certainly we are not in the age where children have started to influence, knowingly or unknowingly, the products used by their parents in private.

I'm always enthralled by the creativity of the ad designers.  My son and all the little monsters out there in every family see some of these ads and ultimately get creative for all wrong reasons.  To keep it simple, I'm not prepared to see them discussing such topics at this age.

Congratulation ad companies!!!  I'm no longer worried about 6 packs.  As a responsible parent, whether I buy your products or not, I'm deeply worried about your advertisement contents.