"I don't want to miss a thing" ... Are These People Serious?

Did anyone else see the television ad marketing Essure, a permanent birth control procedure, at the average American mother? (Tom remembered the name.)

The scenario is the family at the park with two or three children, the father, and the mother all having a great time. In a moment alone, the mother furrows her brow and wonders, "What if I'm pregnant? Can we afford it?" and some other more generic worries. As she continues to think worriedly about the changes that a child would make to their lives, it was chilling to see adorable children come up to their mother. As she lovingly caressed them or bent over to speak to them, I kept thinking, "Right, who would want another adorable child like that one right in front of you?"

Speaking purely as an advertising professional, what were these people thinking? These are some of the feeblest, most selfish excuses I've ever heard for not having children. This family was clearly not suffering financially, the father was right there, the children were all those we would consider the American ideal ... and as the ad finishes, the woman turns around and smilingly calls to the camera, "Because I don't want to miss a thing!"

Except any more children. Because it's all about her of course.

Hope those children the advertisement mom already has don't get drift of it. Because clearly their worth is in enhancing this woman's life, as is her husband.

I know several mothers who have five or six children and their pregnancies didn't stop them from going to the park, school plays, or their book club (depending on what this woman is dreading missing, of course).

Probably the worst logic I've ever seen, however, it probably will appeal to anyone who is clutching at the slightest excuse to overcome any moral objections.

That is my advertising take.

The reason I don't remember more details is that we were both stunned at the subject matter showing up in an ad on the evening news and at the fatuousness of the approach. The only thing that one can hope is that those more serious-minded folks who are mulling over the issue will see the weakness of this logic.

If our society would stop looking at children as an item on our financial reports or that would make us stop focusing on ourselves we'd be so much better off in so many ways. There's a reason that Tom and I look at our friends who chose to remain childless with pity. They will never know the riches that they are passing by for the sake of comforts that are much less precious and ultimately will fail them in the end. This is just as true for those who are choosing family size. Who knows what unique joy could be theirs but that they will never know because it would be given by the very person that they refuse to bring into the world?

UPDATE
This article by someone who works in women's health care shows that not only the advertising is weak.