Saturday, November 26, 2011

What year does Tide think this is?



Sometimes I think that the advertising agency hired by Tide Detergent only just recently emerged from a bomb shelter after forty years, ala Brendon Fraser in "Blast from the Past." How else can one explain these "laundry is the natural domain of Women, so let's shock and amuse the audience by showing men doing it" commercials?

This guy prattles on and on about what most of us guys who live in the real world already know- that men are perfectly capable of adding detergent, moving the wash to the dryer, and ultimately folding it properly- hey, some of us even manage to put it away in the proper drawers without setting the house on fire, no fooling!! The vibe I get is that he expects some kind of freaking medal- or, at least, is trying really hard to convince us that he's still a Man ("I'm going to do crunches in the other room") despite the fact that he's doing "women's" work.

Seriously, Tide? Could you be just a LITTLE more condescending, insulting, and retrograde? I do laundry. I also vacuum and cook (and by "cook," I don't mean stir up a pot of Kraft Mac' n Cheese, either.) I don't have any kids- but if I did, I wouldn't refer to myself as a "Mom Dad" (I really want to hurt the dickweed who came up with that one) because "Dad" would work just fine. Probably because I wouldn't feel insecure about DOING MY SHARE. Ugh.

You know, it's easy to imagine the fungus down at the neighborhood bar reminding Mom Dad of the fact that he folded laundry and referring to it as the "second unmanly thing" he did that day. I'd hope he would respond with a not very polite rejoinder before getting back to his family- but judging from this guy's defensiveness, he'd probably just order a Miller Lite.

You'd think Tide would invest a few dollars in field research before approving junk like this- and "field research" does NOT include screening "Mr. Mom." I'd settle for the ad men who threw together this tepid mess crawling back into their bomb shelter. You won't be missed, guys- and I suspect that sentiment is shared by the women in your lives.

3 comments:

  1. My God; it's like looking inside the greasy interior of Lynn Johnston's mind!

    ReplyDelete
  2. He want a medal or a chest to pin it on? Geez! Guys like that make me want to remain single for the rest of my life because as much as I want to marry and have kids, being single and childfree is infinitely preferable to spending the rest of my life with a guy who expects to be praised for doing his fair share. You know, if you distill 'Mom Dad' down, you get 'Mad', which what he makes me and what he is for thinking he's to be admired in any way.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What the hell!?

    I'm going to rank this up there with people who say: "Dad's babysitting" when referring to a wife who dared to leave the house without her children firmly attached to her breast. No, my husband does not "babysit" our kids, he's their father, he's parenting.

    Also, sometimes, discussions about laundry come up and I'll say that I don't let my husband near the laundry. I hate it when he does the laundry. People think he just needs to be "taught" how to do it. (side note, who needs to be "taught"? Read the damn label on the garment, boom- you can do laundry now).

    No, he just doesn't care. I separate our laundry by whites/colors and I wash jeans separately because between all of us, jeans are a load alone. But, he doesn't care and will lump all clothes together- not caring if a white blouse for work gets ruined by a red T-shirt. He knows how it is supposed to be done, but doesn't give a rat's ass.

    But, he does manage to wash sheets and towels... and, get this, not only is he "man enough" to wash sheets and towels, he *gasp* FOLDS THEM! Also, he folds everything one-handed, since he's disabled from a stroke. So there- he wins everything.

    If this ad wants to get all stereotypical on the role of "Dad" not being able to do "Mom things", why doesn't he go into the other room and eat bon-bons and watch "his stories"?

    Because, if I recall from the '70s, that's all stay-home moms ever did. *eye roll*

    ReplyDelete