Summary: The Left has near-control of the commercial media. It’s the high ground in the culture wars. Here is one example of how they use it — riding on the almost limitless power of advertising and entertainment dollars — to mold America. We are mainlining sexism.
The commercial media are both mirrors in which we see ourselves and means by which the leftist-dominated media industries shape America. One long-standing theme is that men — and especially dads — are dumb and irresponsible. With bonus points for those scenes with wise wives and mothers correcting their wayward men. Most men hate these. So why do commercial media so often run this theme? Perhaps because ideology is tops in modern America.
Here is a sampler from the limitless pool of such videos on YouTube. Think of these when you next read women complaining that men need to “man up” and become husbands and fathers.
J. P. Morgan’s “Fairy Dadmother” commercial
“Dads can be heroes in many ways — and, according to JP Morgan Chase & Co., that could mean putting on makeup and a wig and donning a tutu to play the fairy princess at a birthday party.” See the video at Ad Age. Especially note the lavish attention of the camera watching the dad cross-dressing.
“Be soft, Dad” says Angel Soft®’s commercial
Dads worry about safety; moms make boys tough says Ford.
“Mom and Dad have differing priorities when it comes to their children’s football game. Dad puts safety first and makes sure shoulder pads are secured and helmets are fastened tightly. However, Momma’s building champions. She tells them to be the hammer, not the nail, and she sends them on their way.” Plus the bonus pat to her husband on the ass. (Note how sexual aggressiveness has become a female trait in US media. For example, it is almost always the woman who initiates a kiss.) See the ad at iSpot.
Samsung’s TVs are evolutionary. But men aren’t.
Commercial #2,000,001 where a wife sees that her husband is stupid
Scaring the baby for life: “Sorry, its a boy.” (The big close to the ad.)
Husband baffled by flavored yogurt
Dads in the media – part one
Dads in the media – part two
Dads on TV
Addendum
The invaluable Dalrock has many posts showing that in the Christian subculture there are equally dark portrayals of husbands and dads. See this review of the Kendrick brothers’ movie “War Room”. “Untethered” is a brutal takedown of feminist Christian family expert Sheila Wray Gregoire. He shows the genre in its full glory in “Give the rebellious wife what she demands or the baby gets it!”
For More Information
Two of these commercials were described at Dalrock’s website: “Ministry of Humor” and “Dad Teaches How to Shave.”
Ideas! For shopping ideas, see my recommended books and films at Amazon.
If you liked this post, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See all posts about society and gender issues, about feminism, and especially these…
- The revolution in gender roles reshapes society in ways too disturbing to see— Allan Bloom on relationships.
- A look ahead at the New America, after the gender wars.
- The collapse of gender roles: an unseen revolution with unimaginable consequences.
- Vignettes of men and women in America, alienated from their true selves.
- A brief guide to the new war of the sexes. Both sides are 100% right.
- America’s war of the sexes gets worse. Here’s why.
- Mysteries and ironies of the next new sexual revolution.
- A historian’s disturbing news about the feminist revolution.
A counterpoint to the Feminist Revolution.
Well worth reading: Who Stole Feminism?: How Women Have Betrayed Women
“Philosophy professor Christina Sommers has exposed a disturbing development: how a group of zealots, claiming to speak for all women, are promoting a dangerous new agenda that threatens our most cherished ideals and sets women against men in all spheres of life. In case after case, Sommers shows how these extremists have propped up their arguments with highly questionable but well-funded research, presenting inflammatory and often inaccurate information and stifling any semblance of free and open scrutiny.
“Trumpeted as orthodoxy, the resulting ‘findings’ on everything from rape to domestic abuse to economic bias to the supposed crisis in girls’ self-esteem perpetuate a view of women as victims of the ‘patriarchy’.
“Moreover, these arguments and the supposed facts on which they are based have had enormous influence beyond the academy, where they have shaken the foundations of our educational, scientific, and legal institutions and have fostered resentment and alienation in our private lives. Despite its current dominance, Sommers maintains, such a breed of feminism is at odds with the real aspirations and values of most American women and undermines the cause of true equality. Who Stole Feminism? is a call to arms that will enrage or inspire, but cannot be ignored.”
Poe’s law demonstration #7364842
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Editor’s note: “Poe’s law is an adage of Internet culture stating that, without a clear indicator of the author’s intent, it is impossible to create a parody of extreme views so obviously exaggerated that it cannot be mistaken by some readers or viewers as a sincere expression of the parodied views.” {From Wikipedia.}
Jimmy,
That’s a great point! I’m sure the creators of these ads and TV — and the countless others like them during the past 4 decades — would play the “Just Kidding” defense. But they are ubiquitous, and used even in contexts where they make no commercial sense. There is obviously something else at work here.
Dalrock (And I strongly agree with you that he is worth reading) points out that none of this is edgy. I actually think that as TV, advertising, and other media are increasingly produced by women, they become more susceptible to groupthink and following the approves narrative. It’s not unusual for TV advertising to be aimed at women, but TV now seems to be abandoning the male audience to a large extent, sports excepted. Note for ecample that the private eye show has mostly disappeared, and you have ensemble shows like Law & Order, CSI, or NCIS in all their iterations. Private detectives like Magnum appealed to guys. (And just possibly to women who liked Tom Selleck), and used to draw a large audience. But PIs by their nature tended to be lone wolf type heroes. Now they want ensembles of detectives,carefully mixed and matched to tick all the diversity boxes.
I wonder if showing men in a masculine way might actually make advertising more persuasive and help sell the product. They’re establishing their Social Justice cred, but are they selling the product? Are they giving their customer what they paid for? If not, would the customers find themselves boycotted for pointing it out and complaining about it? Are they leaving money on the table?
The Man,
“Dalrock …points out that none of this is edgy.”
Exactly. Now it is the norm. Routine.
“TV now seems to be abandoning the male audience to a large extent, sports excepted.”
I watch little TV, but even I’ve noticed that shows now tend to evolve into chick-flicks. That happened to three shows I’ve watch NCIS, NCIS LA, Castle. NCIS: the women (Ziva, Abbey, Ellie Bishop) are much better in every way than their male counterparts. In NCIS LA and Castle the alpha men (Deeks, Eric, Castle) in the romantic pairs were slowly broken over time, becoming butt-monkey betas — inferior to their female partners.
I can’t imagine what guys would see in these stories. They’re tragedies, like Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind.
See my posts about “Castle”. It’s a mirror showing important trends in America.
It’s a trend that leaves me utterly baffled. In short:
1. They’re the sexist gender role stereotyping women have been complaining about for decades.
2. They’re demoralising and imply that there’s no point in men trying to do ‘domestic’ because they’re just useless at it. Just leave it to wifey.
3. Some verge on portraying women as sexual predators in a way that (were roles reversed) would have had them banned.
In the UK there were a lot of ‘useless man’ adverts, but there were loads of complaints from men *and* women about the negative effects, and we’ve seen more that show men cooking meals, entertaining their children, doing household chores in a much more positive fashion. With humour, but positive humour.
It’s a market. If you don’t like the adverts and what they”re trying to say, write to the company who’s products are being advertised, tell them, and say you’ll not be buying their stuff. If enough men do it, they’ll sit up and take notice.
I would add a comment on another social justice aspect of the media, only tangentially related to the feminist narrative, and that is the overwhelming frequent portrayal of racial diversity. Commercials, television programs, and even movies now are having ever higher proportions not only of African-Americans, but of mixed race couples.
I have noticed this trend for several years, and now that it is getting rather out of hand, i saw (not backed up, but believable) that in a survey people were asked what is the proportion of the population that is African American and the average response was 40%. If you watch commercials frequently (I study them, they are an interesting window into our culture) you would not be surprised by that answer. And the mixed race part has taken hold over the past year or so.
It is not that i think there is anything wrong with portrayals of women, blacks, couples in normal situations, in middle class household images, in fact i think it is necessary to normalize impressions and stereotypes of the opposite sort. However sometimes i have to just say give me a break. It is the same mainstream media preferences that are moving both of these needles.