A dad's eye-opening conversation with two 7-year-olds has gone viral on TikTok—and it's hit a nerve with the older generation.
In the clip, posted by Shannon, whose last name is not public, husband Cole recounts the hilarious exchange that left him in disbelief, realizing just how unfamiliar young kids are with traditional TV commercials.
As Cole is speaking to his wife, Shannon writes on the text overlay that the girls are 7 years old (one of whom is believed to be their daughter). He explains that they wanted to watch a movie. "You could watch it for free, but with ads," Cole tells them.
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Confused, the girls ask if you can skip it. Cole explains that they had no choice but to watch the ad which was around 60 seconds long.
The girls look at each other and one of them turns to Cole and asks, "Like vacation TV?" Floored by this reaction, Cole realized that they'd made the connection between the basic cable TV you're likely to get if you stay in a hotel on holiday.
"And then this soon as she said that, her friend goes, 'Yeah, vacation TV!' They have no idea what a commercial is... it just hit me. How many kids out there think that?" Cole says animatedly.
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Once it had been established that the ads were a non-negotiable in order to watch the movie, one of the girls says, "Yeah, and you can't pause it, rewind it or anything that." Cole described it as one of those moments that "hit harder than anything."
Shannon's clip clocked up over six million views and thousands of comments from other social media users who were also shocked by this realization.
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"They will never know the feeling of getting a snack from the other room and someone yelling, 'it's back on!', and you have to sprint back to not miss anything," one user commented, while another wrote, "Remember when we used to have to wait a week to find out what happens next?"
Newsweek spoke to trends expert and keynote speaker Daniel Levine who explained how children today have grown up with a very different media landscape compared to their parents' generation.
While kids are used to seeing ads on platforms such as YouTube, clear-cut commercials are a thing of the past, as modern advertising often merges with entertainment.
"Unlike yesteryear, contemporary advertising is rife with influencer marketing and product placements that blur the lines between paid advertising and straight-up entertainment. In this context, it's understandable that an entertaining ad might be misconstrued as 'vacation TV'. It's simply a mini-break from the main event," Levine told Newsweek.
Other TikTok users shared their experiences of their kids not understanding the concept of ads. One even commented that their child asked her them to skip an ad on the radio.
Levine was alarmed by the dad's bemused reaction and told Newsweek that the changes in advertising present more challenges for parents.
"Ideally, the evolving mediascape should lead to discussions with children to help them identify the difference between entertainment and persuasive content," he said.
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