4 Reasons Commercials Are Sexist (Against Men)

Here's another one, where some guy comes up with an innovative solution to the problem of socks. You didn't know there was a problem with socks? Well then, feast on this, and return here when you're done picking the truth nuggets from your teeth:

Individually, these ads are pretty harmless, even vaguely funny. It's just a depiction of a single idiot, not a commentary on all men everywhere, right? But in aggregate, when taking all the "dumb dad" ads that air every day into consideration, it becomes harder to ignore. Because make no mistake, this trope is incredibly common, and in its worst forms can get pretty insulting.

Earlier this year, Huggies released a series of ads that essentially stated that their diapers were so reliable, you could put them on a baby and leave them alone with dad for a few hours, and shit wouldn't spray out everywhere. "The Ultimate Test for Diapers: Negligent Dads."

So what's going on here? How did we get to a point where this kind of casual, low-level dad-mocking became the industry standard for certain types of ads? I've come up with four possible reasons below:

Well, I'll tell you why not. First, because it limits your commercial's appeal to just your target audience, and can alienate all the idiot men. Maybe men aren't buying your flavored yogurt or your socks right now, but maybe you should be trying to change that? Appealing to the people who don't buy your products? Just as an example, Nintendo made an enormous amount of money by marketing the Wii to people who traditionally had little interest in video games: families, bowling enthusiasts and the old.

Getty

There's another, deeper issue here, especially when depicting a dumb dad in an ad for a product geared for housecleaning or raising children. These depictions can reinforce the idea that men actually are useless tits around the home. Real men will act down to the expectation, and protest that they shouldn't be left in charge of babies or mops. And as much as I think the idea of raising a baby using only a mop is funny (I think it's very funny), these lowered expectations for men are probably something we should be moving away from.

Thousands of new ads have to be produced every year, about basically the same products each year, and there's only so many Don Drapers out there. Which means everyone else is simply relying on whatever formulas worked in the past. If a dude having trouble with flavored yogurt worked once in an ad, then yeah, lets have a dude straight-up drinking from an enema bottle. That's hilarious. Why would you even hesitate?

But why then are men always the idiots? If we were to flip the scenario around, and were advertising a product that was primarily bought by men, could we get away with making a lady idiot? Why don't we have an ad for, say, a new type of screwdriver, which features a wife who keeps confusing a screwdriver with a band saw while her husband looks on, a stunned expression on his face as she accidentally saws a fucking car in half? Turnabout's fair play, right?

Or maybe we can't do that, because ...

Stepping back even further, to the biggerer picture, we can see that men, even dumb ones, still have a pretty easy time of it, having many advantages in our society. Basically all of them, really:

- Higher salaries

- Less pressure to maintain a certain body image

- More streamlined role in baby-making

- Height

- People don't flip out if they have a career and not a family

- People don't flip out if they have a family and not a career

- People don't flip out if they have a family and a career

- Easier presidential candidacies

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There's no escaping the fact that these "dumb dad" ads are sexist, and some of the worst, like that Huggies ad, are truly vile. But this isn't a sign of an overarching feminist conspiracy or of the looming collapse of masculinity. There's too much sexism still flying back at women for that claim to be credible. No, it's just lazy, stupid marketers, running with a lazy, stupid formula. If the ads offend you, don't buy the products. Write angry letters. Fill a diaper to the brim with your leavings and mail it to Huggies. Or just bitch on the Internet. Those are all acceptable responses to a stupid ad.

And if you happen to work for a marketing company? Maybe come up with a new, less lazy formula.

And also maybe don't open any mail that feels squishy.

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For more from Bucholz, check out 6 Reasons Cross-Dressing Comedies Should Be Retired and The 5 Stages of Online Dating.

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