Every time I see the frequently aired 2019 Infiniti QX60 TV Spot, ‘Move the Meeting’, I cringe.

The scene, familiar to many of us who work or worked in corporate settings:  a business conference call, not unlike the ones we attended. The script:
Leader of the off-site participants: “There’s a few points we still want to touch on. . .”
(One on-site employee receive a cellphone call from her daughter.)
Leader of the on-site participants: (An aside to an adjacent on-site participant): “Is everything all right?”
Adjacent on-site participant: “Alex left her cello in my car.”
Leader of the on-site participants to the off-site participants: “We’re getting kicked out of the room. We’re going to have to call you back.”

Everyone moves to the woman’s Infiniti QX60, dials in and continues the conference call.
Leader of the on-site participants: “We’re back. . .” as the woman drives to Alex’ school and, upon arrival, leaves the car (and engagement in the conversation), opens the car’s rear door, hands the cello to her waiting daughter, Alex, and returns to the car, smiling in gratitude to her partners in the deception.

Click here to view this commercial.

MORAL CONCERNS

What concerns me about this commercial is that

• Perhaps the people who view this TV spot are happy that the co-workers found a way to help the woman resolve her dilemma, even though the means to this end includes a lie and deception of their off-site co-workers.

• Viewing children may be getting a morally harmful message, not only from the commercial, but also from the fact that the adults present in the TV room are not using this as a teachable moment.

And this commercial’s subject matter is a made up situation with the goal of enticing us to buy a car.  The writers could just as easily made the drama to have the on-site leader state the dilemma and suggest the same solution without the deception.

TEMPORAL EFFECTS OF SIN

Did you ever hear the Church’s catechism teaching on the temporal effects of sin? In a nutshell, it means that once you do something, it is easier to do it again and the more you do it the easier it gets, eventually becoming a habit.

So, as nice and innocuous as the above scene appears, it can lead us to situational deceptions involving  our parents, spouses, friends and even ourselves.  What does that do to our relationships, even those with the persons we want to love?  I once listened to a salesperson who obviously was lying to me about a product and as I left the store I told the person with me that I would not want to be his wife because his spending the workday lying to people had to spill over into his behavior in his personal relationships.

WE NEED TO BE VIGILANT AND TALK ABOUT THE DANGERS WE SEE

I believe that deep down inside of each of us, we want to be good, true and honest. God made us that way – made in the image and likeness of God who also gave us intellect and will to inspect what surrounds us and guard ourselves from what is harmful to us. We probably cannot stop all of the negative influences that unthinking or greedy people and organizations place before us, but we can intelligently view them and communicate to our family and friends where we see danger and engage them in a discussion of the good and not so good messages to which we and our children are being exposed.

Think about this. And consider sharing this post with someone you think should read it.  That’s an act of charity that definitely evangelizes and helps make the world a better place.  And who knows, it may even save lives and relationships.

Sister Loretta