TTC’s celebrity scoldings not the better way for a PSA

MARSHA BARBER What is the TTC thinking? Whoever thought it was a good idea to have actor/comic Seth Rogen do public service announcements for the subway deserves to have to listen to him on the way to work.

I have nothing against Seth Rogen. OK, maybe Knocked Up isn’t my choice for Saturday night at the movies, and maybe I get him confused with Jonah Hill when I’m not wearing my glasses, but hey.

The guy is the pride of his former hometown, Vancouver, and he also does announcements for the Vancouver transit system. He’s said to be worth around $55 million, so someone likes what he’s doing.

The first time I heard Rogen over a muffled sound system on the Bloor Danforth line I thought he was telling me not to clip my fingernails on the subway. Turns out that’s exactly what he was doing. If you ride the subway you can now hear him regularly in a series of PSAs designed to make Toronto subways a kinder, gentler place. Like, say, a mob riot without nail clippings.

Oh, that voice. And tone. And those attempts at humour. So now, the TTC has him telling me, and the millions who ride the subway each day, not to wear a backpack: “Don’t be a backpack hunchback” and to text instead of talking on a cellphone: “Be that person, and not the person you’re being.” Noble sentiments, but who needs to be reminded of this stuff in loud 20-second unintelligible PSAs. And not just telling me, lecturing me. Proclaiming from a great height as his voice emanates from speaker systems on the platforms. If I wanted to be admonished unintelligibly from loud speakers as I went about my daily business I’d go to North Korea.

I think this must have something to do with our worship of celebrity culture. Who else would we take this from? Imagine the voice of Mayor John Tory telling us, in his measured fashion, not to put our feet on the seats. But we take it from Seth Rogen because he has Hollywood pixie dust sprinkled all over him.

Or we have taken it until now. As Seth lectured us earlier this week on grooming etiquette, and food consumption in the subway, the woman standing to my right turned to me and rolled her eyes.

And what about all the immigrants to this city who ride the subway? They may (gasp!) have no idea who Seth Rogen is and even less tolerance for his garbled messages.

Seth Rogen is doing this for free. Other celebrities contribute to combating world hunger or HIV/ AIDS or, in the case of Gwyneth Paltrow, dry skin.

So why is this Seth Rogen’s public service quest? Does he actually ride public transit as he claims? Does he care about enhanced civility on public transit?

Because if he really does, then he can perhaps contribute in a more meaningful way: shut the fuddle duddle up.