Of Polar Bears and Penguins

As a science oriented person, I'm slightly upset with the cutesy Coke commercials that show Polar Bears and Penguins sharing a Coke. It's no the sugary sweetness of the appeal that troubles me, it's the falseness of the scene that troubles me.

1) Penguins are Southern Hemispheric species. Some may make it as far north as the shores of Brazil or Chile but none cross the Equator. Polar Bears are a Northern Hemispheric bunch. They live around the Arctic Ocean, venturing out onto the ice for meals of seals. The furthest south I have ever heard of these big white beasts traveling is Churchill on the south end of Hudson Bay. In short, the two would never meet except at a zoo.

2) The scene in the Coke commercial shows a family of Polar bears and that's just wrong. While Mama bear may care for her cub for a year or two, Papa bear looks upon young bears as a snack. The male bear is not terribly social. The only time the male approaches a female without the visions of food in his mind is those few days when he may mate with her. He certainly isn't going to stick around for any child rearing.

3) Making cutesy commercials may make people go, "Aww, ain't that cute." but it will also give them false impressions of the real world. (See the Disney version of Bambi for one of the worst cases.)

Now, about that three bears commercial for Hummer's H3...

(And yeah, I thought it was cute too.)