Monday, April 12, 2010

AT&T and Father Unfriendly Ads

I saw this commercial at the gym this weekend and almost fell off the treadmill in disbelief. What self-respecting marketing pros still think it is ok to portray dad as a bumbling idiot? Imagine the commercial with the roles reversed - would it still be funny? Of course not...a mother who can't soothe her child isn't really funny. But looking like a moronic dad is somehow still ok to the folks in marketing at AT&T. Lovely.

4 comments:

  1. I have seen this ad, too,and I agree that it is completely ridiculous. I honestly believe they are losing money with these kinds of ads. No one "wins" when dads are portrayed as incompetent. It is a cop out by uncreative ad people who know they can get a cheap laugh with the old "bumbling dad" stereotype.

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  2. Not to glorify the good old days, but you never would have seen an ad like this on TV 25 years ago. The culture has changed radically since then and buffoonish boy-men are in now. Just look at the plethora of films that feature adolescent 40 something year old men: "Hot Tub Time Machine", "The Hangover", "40 Year Old Virgin" to name but a few. Ditto for a lot of the sitcoms on TV today. Strong, smart men like Hawk Eye Pierce on Mash or James Evans of Good Times have been replaced by weak minded fools like Homer Simpson and the Charlie Sheen character on Two and a Half Men. As Roland Warren correctly noted, we’ve gone from father knows best to father knows nothing.

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  3. I concur. These ads are tedious and worn out (if they had any staying power in the first place). I also agree that the litmus test for any gender stereotype is to flip the script and see how it floats. I saw an ad in my city ad recently for a handyman small business. Similar to the At&T ad(and countless other TV ads), the ad played on a stereotype and stated: "Rent a Husband". What would the implications be if a business asked you to "Rent a Wife"?

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  4. The other part that I think is insulting to dads is that the dad in the commercial needs something (The video on the phone) to distract the child until mom gets back. Instead of being a good dad and reaching out to his child who is upset he distracts the child with a video. Another strike for AT&T.

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