Creativity Is Being Smothered, Which Is Okay As Long As It Doesn't Commit Suicide.

The damaging effects of political correctness have been well documented by folks much smarter than me, but I'll throw in my two cents anyway. It is likely that anything said in a public forum will offend someone. Of course, care should be taken to not say or do something awful. Unfortunately, the line of what's acceptable is being blurred by groups who are offended by anything and everything.

The latest examples involve two car commercials that have been pulled because the automakers have been attacked by groups claiming that the commercials are offensive to those dealing with the trauma of suicide. (I suppose they mean the suffering of those around people who have committed suicide since, obviously, those who have committed the act no longer have earthbound concerns. Was that insensitive? Please don't boycott my blog now. )

One of the commercials (for GM, I think) shows an obsolete car-manufacturing robot jumping off a bridge. Volkswagen also aired one where a man contemplating suicide backs off the ledge upon learning that Volkswagen offers three cars under $17,000. Neither commercial is particularly funny or clever, or even that memorable. Nor is either one offensive in my mind. I hardly think GM or Volkswagen is encouraging suicide or minimizing the tragic impact it can have. They are just throwaway commercials and it pains me to see companies bullied by small advocacy groups. Being funny (or in the case of these commercials, attempting to be funny) is being squeezed into an increasingly smaller box by those who are afraid to laugh.