Where are the Grown Ups?

The title (if not the content) if this David Brooks column, multiplied by recent reckonings with my own arrested adolescent behavior got me thinking about the lack of grown up ANYTHING in our culture. Brands, branding, advertising, "experiences" included.

The Brooks column is a little twisted, relishing in Lincoln's depression/mental illness/potential denial of other true parts of his nature. But this jumped out:

"Candidates get elected by telling people what they want to hear, leading them by using the sugar of their own fantasies."

Hmmm... in other words, marketing?

From creepy media like "Moment of Truth" to man-vertising to the elevation of pro athletes as gods to the ironic t-shirt or gross-out pizza product introductions, the sophomoric, the junk or the cheap thrill often seem to win.

Are there honest conversations or higher appeals happening out there? Weight Watchers and Dove come close, but the little things left unsaid make them ultimately unsatisfying, at least to me.

Which brands, cultural movements, etc. are making adult appeals? Or is entertainment ultimately what brands must be, and may escapism reign?

With gas prices, credit problems, the weak $, the Middle East, etc., maybe we will be forced into a grown up moment. Then again, maybe it'll be a bigger boom for junk escapsim to forget some more that it's all happening.