There’s a commercial that features Abraham Lincoln in his familiar stovepipe hat waiting in the kitchen with some sort of furry rodent-like animal. It might be a beaver or a groundhog — it doesn’t really matter. They’ve got a chess game set up on the table and seem to be waiting for someone.
Sure enough. In strolls a bedraggled man in a bathrobe. It’s evident he hasn’t slept in a while. “Where have you been? We’ve been waiting for you,” Lincoln says. To which the man replies that he can’t sleep; therefore, he can’t dream. The assumption is that Abe and his furry friend have been waiting for the man to return to dreamland and play chess with them.
This commercial promotes a prescription sleeping aid. I won’t dignify it by naming the drug and providing free publicity. But it is an insult to our intelligence, whether we’ve gotten a full night’s sleep lately or not.
Think about it. It’s as if the man, and by implication anyone who hasn’t slept well lately, should consider what is happening to his dreams. It’s as if dreams are reality and we need to cater to them. It’s as if losing one night’s sleep will disturb Abraham Lincoln, who — I’ve read — had issues with sleep himself.
This kind of silliness annoys me, because it suggests there’s something wrong with us if we don’t sleep well every night. Granted long term sleep deprivation is a serious concern; but suggesting we resolve it so our dreams will be happy is absurd. I bet the real Abraham Lincoln would think so too.
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