Genuinely Cute vs. Terribly Tacky

I am constantly treading a fine line between admiring things which are truly adorable in a genuine, unaffected way, and being drawn to things which are straying into the realm of unforgivable kitsch. The question I try to ask myself is, "would I be embarrassed if someone caught me actively admiring this"? If the answer is yes, I have probably crossed the boundary of acceptable levels of saccharine in covet-able objects and images.

Here is an example of a dilemma I encountered recently:

The above image is cute, but definitely has integrity because it is simple, understated, and comes from the Library of Congress image archives.

This image is initially appealing, but ultimately does not make the grade because it is something which (a) has been done, (b) I would not care to plaster on my desktop, and (c) comes from a website my computer told me was "Unsafe Territory!"

Zebra B was an image that I liked in concept, but could not ultimately get on board with. I think it acts as a good representative of art/imagery/stuff that only goes 80% of the way and quits before it goes the final stretch. It's easy to be average. It's also easy to plug relevant elements into photoshop and come out with something that fits a very fleeting, myopic bill. 

So when I find myself admiring something with artificial rainbows, smiley faces, peace signs, or comes in lime green, let's just hope I have the wherewithal to Just Say No.