The dumbing of the American TV watcher.

In the past half hour or so I have seen the following advertisements on the tube:

A filthy mop sending a candy gram to its former owner; an attorney who says he'll deal with the government because I have enough to worry about; a commercial attempting to convince me that Cocoa Puffs are healthy; how to rinse my way to whiter teeth; the danger of not having a whole house security system with handsome young men in matching polo shirts waiting for your home invasion call; the further danger of having an accident on a lonely stretch of road without a car security call system; how uncool it is to have only 75 TV channels when you could have 300; the benefit of having a happy colon; lipstick that absolutely will stay on your lips for the whole day; a pizza that has three kinds of meat, veggies and a cheese cooked inside the thick crust...and on and all.

All designed to let me know that I could be doing things differently, better, and that there are companies out there who have only my welfare in mind.