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The folks at CBS are learning that you don't mess with Frosty. Parents are all up in arms about the two new Frosty the Inappropriate Snowman online ads that mash up classic scenes from "Frosty the Snowman" and "Frost Returns" with dialogue from the CBS sitcoms "How I Met Your Mother" and "Two and a Half Men." Apparently making one of Christmas's most beloved icons tell inappropriate, adult-oriented jokes just takes things TOO FAR.
As one woman quoted in the article states, "The ad introduces children to the idea of strippers and pornography ... It really drives home the idea that nothing is sacred anymore." Not even Frosty, it seems.
But that's the point of the ads. The offending promos end with the words "Some Things Are Better Left Untouched." As it stands, Frosty the Inappropriate Snowman is confined to the Internet. (They debuted on CBS.com and the CBS YouTube channel.) Of all the fun stuff on the Web, we're thinking Frosty the Inappropriate Snowman ranks in the top 5 percent of the least inappropriate animated comedy videos.
We have no qualms with the ads here at Lemondrop (we're always suckers for a good mash-up), but do you think CBS went too far? (And, more importantly, do you really think CBS is trying to get 10-year-olds to start watching "Two and a Half Men?")
Thanks to Josh Loposer for help reporting this story.
"How I Met Your Mother" version:
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Thursday 10 December
By Ty
Here's a hilarious take on Christmas!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXySpVFasFI
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Thursday 10 December
By tystmark
Here's a hilarious take on Christmas!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXySpVFasFI
Reply
Friday 11 December
By Eddie
This is what we get for having a Congress and House full of Liar/Lawyers. Dont want to see such material....Cut the TV off and go outside, play a game, go see Grandma....QUIT YOUR WHINING! The pussification of America. How bout a Tee-pee type of structure...no foundation....a fire in the middle....you are warm in front and your butt-cheeks are frozen.....You have to huddle with your sibs for warmth....Po folk aint got it so gud now duz we?
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Thursday 10 December
By heidi
These videos are absolutely disgusting,people have no class.
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Thursday 10 December
By ajyll
Honestly, This makes me sad. Sad that nothing is sacred for our children. Sad that people believe that this is a creative way to market a show. I already have to be careful about the shows that we have on during prime time, it did not used to be like that..
Also it makes me sick that people want to justify this and say negative things about parents and others who want to allow our children the innocense of growing up slowly as it is meant to be. CBS should be ashamed of taking a precious childhood memory and distorting it in such a dispicable way. They should also consider hiring some quality personal in their marketing department.
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Thursday 10 December
By CarolynH
Your kind of thinking is exactly what is wrong with our society. The moral and ethical fabric of our country is unraveling right before our eyes. This idea that 'kids will hear it anyways' is not an excuse. Every year the envelope gets pushed even further. Soon we'll get to the point that dropping f bombs in elementary school and drinking beer in H.S. algebra class will just soon be accepted because, you know, "everyone is doing it". This has nothing to do with 'not getting with the times' but making we are raising decent human to possess good manners and be respectful of others.
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Thursday 10 December
By martin
leave frosty alone!!
you can be perverted as you want to be--as long as it's you--but leave frosty out of it!! Next thing you know, they'll have Opey or the Beave saying nasty things.
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Thursday 10 December
By lisa
I agree with the critics!!!!! Same thing need to innocent and sacred!
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Thursday 10 December
By Zhana
Umm alright well personally I didn't find this funny at all. And maybe it's because I'm a teenager but I didn't really find anything wrong with it either. If you think it's not appropriate for kids, then simply don't let them watch it. I can guarantee you that if they're old enough to be searching the 'net they have head these things before, believe it or not. No one is forcing you to watch it and its not airing on TV so your kids will not "stumble upon it." I don't see the point in complaing about something you can choose to ignore.
Now I'm glad I didn't grow up (as a little kid) in an atmophere like this, because nowadays everything is sexified. But as a parent, if you don't want them to be around it, take them away from it. Kids enjoy Hannah Montana and Spongebob more than cooties on the net anyway.
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Thursday 10 December
By Joy
Wow..........I guess some people really have nothing better to do!? I think the video is A W F U L!!!
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Friday 11 December
By Robert
Lol that was f'in hilarious and believe it or not thats not the worst thing ive seen on TV I've seen dateing calling things on cartoonnetwork before adult swim started, and thats not right, wow.
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Thursday 10 December
By Linda
Television Land has been on a downhill slide since the 90s. There's only one way to fight bad taste kiddies! Turn off the damned TV!!!! Talk with your children, play a game, watch a video which you can pick without trepidations, help them with homework, make cookies, take them for a game in the park, do anything, but don't give credibility to these insane, inane , idiot programs, by watching them
Grandma has spoken
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Friday 11 December
By Linda
Give your one celled brain a rest.
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Thursday 10 December
By knumbed
What a boring commercial.
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Thursday 10 December
By morticianzddt
i thought this was hilarious! The show it copied the dialogue from is just not funny at all. But this was great. Ah well, its just something else for people to cry about.
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Thursday 10 December
By Corneliu Codreanu
Wow, it's the Weimar Republic all over again...
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Thursday 10 December
By tripledoubleat14
Hello everyone...just to reiterate Jenni Campbell's point, I came upon this great quote in my history class by Maya Angelou...
"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitudde. Don't complain."
I agree that even though the messed up putting 'X' rated stuff on a child's show, remeber that it is the parents who sit their children in front of the tv for hours at a time in order to apease them and catch their breath. However, we must also remember that this is a children's show and was not expected. Therefore you can't blame some parents, even though they sat their children in front of the tv, they at least tried to give them something "kiddie".
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Friday 11 December
By BP
The inappropriate frosty was promoting shows of the same inappropriate level. It's supposed to air the same time of night that those shows are on. Personally I'm a fan of HIMYM. I'm not sure how it gets away with being on at 8pm. It's probably better to go on later, but the plain fact is that the string of four shows from 8pm-10pm on Monday are all pretty racy. I happen to like 3 of the 4 of them very much, but I'm an adult.
I care less about the "ruining of Frosty" part of it, because even as a child I thought that cartoon, especially the kids in it, was pretty stupid. The same goes for many of the other Christmas animation specials; pretty much, it's not Peanuts or The Muppets, I never liked it.
Primetime TV isn't for kids. It's not directed toward kids. It's not just CBS, it's everybody. I give CBS credit for making at least one night of entertaining TV for me, and having the only decent late night person in Craig Ferguson. I'm sick of whoring for dollars reality shows, legal/police/hospital dramas, and dancing shows.
If you really want to change the culture in this country, stop paying attention to/giving your money to networks, companies, and banks that you have issues with. Not happy about the bail-outs, take all of your money out of those banks, stop using their credit cards. Not happy about a network's programming, stop watching. Disagree with how a company treats their employees or does business, don't shop there anymore. It's not as hard as you think to take a look at where your money is going. Money is all these people understand, now that we've been so pacified by our comfortable lives. Your internet posts aren't going going to change things as much as writing a letter or doing something in the real world.
To the allegedly successful 20 year old that said they think all TV is crap, and doesn't watch it because of it. While our tastes differ, you're exercising the right approach. If more people did that, even with our disagreements, we'd have a better place to live.
Also, this is about TV, stop blowing it up into a political issue. The distraction of these stupid inconsequential social issues and the fights we have over them is why we're going the wrong way. Neither one of the major political parties are the answer in their current form, and if you think they are, then you're part of the problem. You're just aiding the back and forth of the saw that slides back and forth on the social issues, while cutting everything important to this country's future in half.
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Thursday 10 December
By kirk
Piss poor entertainment any way you look at it.
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Thursday 10 December
By B
This whole country needs to LIGHTEN UP !!!!!! It's the people with the tight a@@holes that cause the problems. Big deal Frosty said that. Big deal! Is your family healthy? Will you have 3 meals tomorrow? That's what you should worry about. These are probably the same people that don't pay any real attention to their kids anyway and are more worried about their bottom line.
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