However, I’m getting at the basis of why the Joe Camel campaign was condemned in court. Surely a 2-D image shown at the corner of a 7-11 seems harmless, given the sophistication of current persuasive messages. But the cognitive abilities of a 6-year-old have not scaled. Prior to a certain age, children lack the ability to put themselves in someone else’s shoes. A child simply cannot feel that skepticism towards persuasive message. And that’s a good thing (imagine kids at recess having cynical discussions about political advertisements). Except when a corn-syrup pusher is using advanced mind tricks on that child.

The hottest front in combating obesity has always been our children.

I remember begging to go to Pizza Hut because they had those awesome “Land Before Time” puppets. The fact that the pizza was deliciously greasy didn’t hurt things.

Then comes the reality that one of the most powerful commercial forces is the nagging child. Toy packaging allows children to grasp and play with the toys at the store, even as the child is sitting in the shopping-cart-seat. Sugary cereals vie for the shelf position right at kids’ eye level. Hell, there have been times that I’VE been tempted to buy someone else’s kid a toy, just so the kid would pipe down.

So combine the inability of a child to resist the wonders and joys of a video game, with the inability of an adult to hush that child. And you get significantly more trips to BK than if you had never introduced the game. Consequently, you get more teenagers and adults who love triple whoppers in the coming decades.

Does that scare you at all? Or am I being paranoid?

If Fox News fielded someone as witty and biting as Stewart or Colbert, would apolitical 18-35-year-olds watch?