Good Dads vs TV Commercials
One of the most aggravating things a good dad can witness is a TV commercial mocking the intelligence of the average father. Before I became a dad, I never really took notice but now I just can’t shake the images from my head of where dad is so incompetent he can’t change a diaper. Or dad is so out of touch with his family he has no other choice but to scream for help from mommy who is only another room away.
Which commercials am I talking about? How about the one where dad is left home alone with his one year old and it is dinner time. The child is in the high-chair and dad persisting to read the paper. The child begins to throw food and dad sits there and ignores it all as food sporadically hits the back of the newspaper he is reading. “Want to get away?”
Dad appears as an out of touch parent who has not a hint of discipline and would rather be off golfing with the “guys” than spending time with his kid. Granted there are dads who prefer to go golfing with his buddies or out fishing… or anywhere but in the kitchen while their 1 year old chucks food at him while trying to relax.
I figured there wasn’t anything I could do to sway these stereotypes from coming out in commercials. Heck it was hard enough witnessing to people one person at a time, trying to break them of the stupid dad stereotype… that I figured changing the way dads are portrayed on my television set was a little far fetched. But apparently there is a campaign out there that has raised money for this actual issue. The campaign is targeting anti-father, anti-male TV commercials. Can this actually be true? Apparently so.
In November, 2004 we launched the Campaign Against Anti-Father Verizon Commercial, asking Verizon to stop running the commercial “Homework.” In that ad a bumbling father tries to help his little daughter with her homework and is treated with contempt by both the girl and her mother, who orders the father to “leave her alone” and “go wash the dog.” Our campaign made 300 newspapers, and the Verizon ad stopped running a few weeks later. . . . Today we are launching another campaign to combat anti-male advertising. Currently, several advertising agencies are competing for a $150 million advertising contract from Volvo. The agency which is the apparent favorite to win the contract is Arnold Worldwide, the creator of several anti-male commercials. Another, Euro RSCG, currently creates ads for Volvo, and created “Rosi,” a popular, father-friendly Volvo ad. . . . We are asking Volvo not to award the contract to Arnold Worldwide and instead award it to one of the other agencies, preferably Euro RSCG. .
So what’s your #1 pet peeve anti-father commercial?
I blogged about a KIA car commercial that was shown here in Canada a few months ago that I thought was pretty bad.
http://dadventure.ca/2007/01/30/kia-commercial-message-dads-cant-cut-it/
Hey I remember that one. Thanks for the link and it is these type of ads that really annoy me.
Thanks for sharing.
I can’t recall the details, but it was a commercial advertising a sale at Sears, or Macy’s, or something. It featured a series of bumbling dads breaking and burning things and asking their children, ‘Where’s your mother?’
(The answer? Shopping.)
I understand that some might not care for the ads, but a campaign to get them pulled? Sounds like an overreaction to me. They are kind of funny even if they present a potentially negative stereotype.
I HATE the new McDonald’s commercial – the one where all the kids go running home because Dad’s cooking dinner, and it turns out he’s just bringing home freakin’ McDonalds. I think it is kind of insulting to dads.