Commercially Inappropriate

Last week, I saw the following tweet come through from my friend Christina Gleason (aka WELLInTHISHouse):

This tweet was made at 3:44PM on a Thursday.  This is easily a time when children can be listening.  I was surprised, but didn’t really think about it again until Saturday.  B had gone out to secure some groceries and I was watching the boys.  Feeling tired, I convinced the boys to all cuddle in bed and watch Star Wars: Episode I.  I didn’t even notice what channel it was on.  All I knew was that it was noon and we were going to enjoy a nice, wholesome Jedi movie.

Then, the channel cut to commercial.  Suddenly, we were presented with a couple who were very eager to get their purchase completed in the pharmacy.  You see, they were buying Trojan condoms and were "in a rush" to get out of there.  The commercial even had a graphic of a rolled out and "filled up" (albeit with a generic shape) condom.

I lay there with only one thought in my mind: Which of my kids are going to ask what a "condom" is?  Which will say they want one (as they seem to do for everything advertised on TV)?  Will this lead to questions about what the guy and the girl were doing as they hurried out of the pharmacy?

Thankfully, my kids ignored the ad.  I guess their brains recognized that this wasn’t an ad for a toy and, thus, fell into the "boring TV ad" category.  Still, I was shocked.  Yes, in hindsight, I noticed that this was Spike TV.  I realize they’re not exactly a paragon of clean programming.  Still, a condom ad in the middle of the day during a movie that is rated PG and thus suitable for many young children?

It’s bad enough that we need to screen television shows and music for appropriate content.  Do we really need to be screening for commercials as well?  If so, score 1 for DVRs and 0 for Live TV.

Has your child ever stumbled upon an inappropriate commercial?  If so, how did they react?