Thomas' Promises... mental abuse?

Ahhhhh. Feels good to be in the blogosphere. Feels refreshing, like a shower with your favorite deodorant soap, be it Zest or Irish Spring or Lava (which I only use in certain places... for obvious reasons).

Anyway, I'd like to open my TV blog by talking about a commercial that rankles me.... not to the point that, say, the war or hurricanes or rude drivers on cell phones rankle me, but whenever I see this ad, rankling does occur.

We're all familiar with Thomas' English Muffins. Nooks. Crannies. Fork split. All good stuff. Their new Hearty Grains muffins are pretty good, too. But they really need to do something about how they portray father-son relationships.

In the Hearty Grains ad, the father, who looks like a balding, middle-aged wrestling coach who never realized his potential, takes the english muffin on his PSP-playing son's plate and eats it, taunting the kid the whole time:
Dad (takes a bite): Is it a whole grain muffin now?
Kid (indifferent): Yeah.
Dad (another bite): How 'bout now?
Kid: Yeah.
Dad: How 'bout now?

Etc. As he finishes the muffin, he snorts with satisfaction at the burn he just inflicted upon his progeny:

Dad: It's not a whole grain Thomas' anymore.
Kid: It isn't?
Dad: No. Now it's my breakfast! Heh heh heh....

What a jerk! What kind of a father would snatch breakfast from his growing son's plate, much less tease the kid while he eats it? What was he going to do next, give him a wedgie and take his milk money?

The kid gets the last laugh by telling Dad that he just ate Mom's english muffin, thus putting him in deep doo-doo. But it just doesn't seem like enough retribution for the bullying he receives from his dad. If this were a real kid, he'd either be deep into therapy or starting fires from all this mental abuse. If this is how Thomas' wants to sell English muffins from here on out, I'll think I'll have to switch to Lender's Bagels.