This is a commercial for Tide laundry detergent.
I had no problem with this ad until the line “colors that mean so much shouldn’t fade”. That line really bothers me. The line, paired with the imagery and song in the commercial, suggests that anything red, white or blue should be treated reverently, like an American flag (most of which, by the way, fade a great deal as they flap proudly in the breeze hanging in the sun – just compare a brand-new flag with a flag that’s seen a good deal of use and you’ll see what I mean).
The colors of our flag are important, but that doesn’t mean that a red shirt or a blue skirt or even a white dress with red and blue embroidery on the smocked bodice deserve the same reverence. They’re just clothes, they aren’t a symbol of anything. The colors are just colors. Even a shirt with a picture of the American flag doesn’t need to be treated the same as the flag itself – it’s not a flag, it’s a shirt. You can throw it on the floor when you take it off and you aren’t showing disrespect for anything (just possibly annoying whoever has to clean up after you).
I understand Tide wanting to impress upon consumers that their product won’t make colors fade from fabric, that’s an important consideration for people who care about their clothing and a great selling point for a laundry detergent. I think it’s kind of reprehensible, however, to suggest that it’s somehow unpatriotic or disrespectful to America to let anything you own that is red, white or blue fade just to make that point. That not only conflates totally unrelated issues, but it has the potential to further confuse the already often very confused issue of what is and is not disrespectful in regards to flags and all things related to them.
