Travel, Globalization & the Age of Information Technology in the ATT Commercial (Rough)

In this ATT commercial, two children (presumably Hansel & Gretel) are portrayed walking down the street of an imaginary city created by ATT. Both children are young and their clothing style seems to be rather out of place in a city such as the one cast by ATT. They are alone, and appear to get lost. The city is portrayed to be more dangerous after they get lost, with a shot of the high rise buildings looming over the children, and a man closing down a shop with bars across the front. A few things should be noted here; (1) these children are quite obviously out of place, most likely from another country; (2) the [foreign] city they are travelling through is portrayed as dangerous for most of the commercial.

Although this commercial clearly plays on the mother's fear of lost children, one must still question why these children are portrayed as such foreigners to the city. A few different answers may be analyzed from this observation; (1) the world and technology is in such a state of globalization, foreigners in a big city is no longer considered "out of place;" (2) a metaphor can be gleaned representing that the city is an unfit place to raise children, pushing the idea of raising kids & having a family in the suburbs; (3) the children are only dressed as such to connect & communicate the Hansel & Gretel story included in the commercial as quickly and efficiently as possible; (4) the children may simply represent innocence/ignorance in an age of information technology; or (5) the children represent the growth from innocence/ignorance (their clothes appear quite dated- connecting us to history, or the past somehow) through to this information technology age, with ATT ruling the technology age (as presented in the creation of a city by ATT with covert references to ATT). What is portrayed overall in regards to travel in the age of globalization in this commercial is that no matter who is travelling or to where, ATT cell service is what will keep you on track/not get you lost/save you from the dangers of going to "the wrong side of town."