Harry Potter, with a twist....................................

I have not read the Harry Potter series, or seen any of the movies, but my youngest has and is impatiently waiting for the last book in the series to be delivered to our house, so I know a bit about dear Harry.

This morning, "Harry" was being interviewed on the Today Show. As I was escorting an empty bowl back to the sink I glanced at the television and saw "Harry's" VERY hairless, VERY young naked upper body wrapped around an equally young, equally appearingly naked young lady. My first thought was that it looked like (mild) child porn, and (as disgusting a thought you might think) my second thought was, "thank goodness this image doesn't hold any sexual appeal to me."

I am not sure how old Harry is in the books, but the "Harry" on the television this morning is not yet eighteen. From what I know of the storyline I don't think Harry's character is overly sexual, so my question is, "what role does that picture play in promoting the movie?"

I will say that I was NOT listening to the interview, and for all I know the picture could have been related to something totally different, but since he was on the television to promote the movie are not the two interlinked? For what reason?

I love the story behind the story, of how the author of the Harry Potter books was a single, near destitute mother that is now a multi-millionaire. I think it is great, and I applaud her success. Certainly, being a mother and all, it was not her idea to parade "Harry" around naked on morning television to try and sell a few extra tickets. Besides, what teens are up at 8:15 AM during the summer to catch a peek?

Have we, as a society, become so immune to the idea of sex in advertising that we so easily accept things of this nature as the normal course of events? Again, this might be a slightly perverted thought, but I am sitting here thinking what is to come next??? Franklin the turtle without his shell? Sponge Bob Square Pants, pantless? Is there not a line to be drawn?

I feel the need to say that I enjoy sex as much as anyone, and I have never thought of myself as a prude. It is just my belief that there is an appropriate time and place for sexual content, and it is not appropriate to be directing sexually charged marketing at children. Maybe the marketers were directing this image at the target audience of sixteen to twenty year olds, and I would probably be okay with this if they could show me how they guarantee ten to fifteen year olds are not seeing it. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!

In my opinion, our society grows children up way to fast and they miss out on a lot of happy and innocent activities. I was at a meeting the other night in which there was a debate over the value of competitive baseball for nine year olds! Children have many years to learn about cut throat competition, and sexual experimentation. Might it not be a good idea to give them time to mature enough so these things do not become a burden that they are too emotionally young to handle? It couldn't hurt, could it?

Getting off my soapbox now...