I've had a fair number of requests, so here's the song lyrics from the
Public Service Announcement that Cathy Liles and I played in Anaheim as part
of our talk on guilt.  This is called "Larry's Lament" and it features Vince
and Larry, the crash-test dummies.  The tune is a country-western song.

My precious pet said "Don't forget,
Tommy's carseat when you go."
But I paid no mind, and now I find,
there's one thing I must know.

Do little angels have carseats
in their chariots in heaven?
If my angel had used one here on earth,
today he would be seven.

I didn't think to buckle-him in,
just goin' into town.
He's on the highway up to Heaven,
I'm on the road that leads straight down."

Chorus:  "Forget the safety seat,
you're on a one-way street,
that only leads straight down.


This is put out by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Ad
Council.  The message is: If you don't use a carseat ONCE you WILL get in a
car accident and your child WILL die, and you will go to HELL.  No
discussion here of relative risk, no worry about making a parent feel
guilty.  That's the whole point -- to get the parent to imagine how guilty
they would feel if this happened to their child.

Can you imagine a breastfeeding promotion campaign along these lines?  "If
you don't breastfeed, your child will die, and you will go to hell."

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Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.                         email: [log in to unmask]
Anthropology Department                               phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University                                    fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX  77843-4352