Male Bashing Commercials 3

I'm ending this three-part series on male-bashing commercials with my "worst of the worst" pick among television spots that have run in the recent past.

I couldn't believe this when I first saw it.

Years ago, V-8 Juice promoted its nutritional drink with a clever series of commercials that featured men and women slapping themselves on the forehead with the palm of their hand saying, "I could have had a V-8!" The catchy phrase really caught on and viewers likewise caught the point--why not choose a nutritious drink rather than an unhealthy snack?

Apparently to keep up with the times, the V-8 folks updated the idea recently with a commercial showing the husband making poor food choices and his wife slapping him on the forehead with the palm of her hand while saying, "You could have had a V-8!" Not just once or twice, but three or four times in the same thirty second spot.

So let's compare. In the original spots, individuals were upbraiding themselves when they made a poor food choice. In the new version, it takes a nutrition-savvy wife to make sure her dimwitted husband eats right. And it takes a slap to his forehead to what? Get his attention... make the point clearer...bring him into compliance?

Think I'm overreacting? Let's imagine turning the tables then. Let's take the same exact commercial with the wife making poor food choices and the husband upbraiding her with a slap to her forehead with the palm of his hand, smiling as he says, "You could have had a V-8!" Just how fast do you think it would take the PC police to be picketing the V-8 Juice headquarters with charges of spousal abuse?

Apparently, others may have reacted the same as I did to the commercial. I only saw it once. It must have had a very short run. On the plus side of the column, it was memorable. On the minus side, it was memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Let's hope some V-8 execs are upbraiding themselves with a slap to the forehead and saying, "I could have had some forethought!"

Take care till next week.

Male Bashing Commercials 2

As I mentioned in Male Bashing Commercials 1, a recurring theme on today's sitcoms is dimwitted parents being out-thought, out-maneuvered, and out-classed by their smart aleck children.

Incredibly, that same theme seems to find its way into commercials. From a strategic perspective, the approach just doesn't make sense to me. Who is the company selling to? The kids? If parents are your patrons, what are you gaining by portraying them as people who are constantly being shown up by juveniles? I don't know about you, but I have a strict policy of not spending money with people who insult me.

A case in point is a recent commercial for AIG, a financial services company. The ad opens in a school lunchroom with boys about sixth grade level talking about their parents.

Rather than the typical complaints about parents being too strict or out of touch, these boys are talking in grown-up terms about their parents not handling their financial futures in a responsible manner. The camera pans down the table with each boy responding to the next with a different "I can't believe it" statement about his parents.

One boy says, "I mentioned the need for life insurance to my dad and he looked at me like I had two heads!" as he shakes his head in disbelief. Every boy makes a similar observation. The commercial ends with the name of the company and a suggestion to call. Yeah, right!

Not only is this an overused comedic device that is no longer funny, it's down-right insulting to adults and perpetuates a sense that parents--and especially dads--have below par intelligence.

The solution to this is to have these big-time ad agency copy writers spend a month with a pack of sixth-grade boys dealing with their forgotten homework, dirty underwear, spit wads, and endless whining. God love 'em (the boys, not the copy writers).

Male Bashing Commercials 1

From time-to-time, I need a break from the serious and I'm betting you do too.

So occasionally, I'm going to mix things up by sharing some of my pet peeves. This week I'm updating my list of male-bashing commercials. At times, it's not too serious, just good clean fun. But at other times, the damage to the image of men is fairly significant and--if nothing else--men need to be aware of which sponsors are hurting them.

Let's start with the fun and move to the more serious.

Capital One has a series of commercials that I actually like featuring a hapless, but enthusiastic father who chooses the wrong credit card. He has a doosey of a time collecting the reward points on his off-brand card, but does his best to make the best of a bad situation.

In a recent ad, the dad's reward points have expired (he should have chosen the card with non-expiring points). So instead of vacationing in some lush paradise, he has to take the family to see far, far distant relatives--a group of supposed cannibals. Upon landing on the shore of some distant island, the father greets a group of wary natives who aren't quite sure what to think about this smiling tourist with family in tow.

Dad ends up full of poisoned darts and being carted off vanquished-pig style with hands and feet bound around a pole. His response to the rude reception: "See kids, they do things first class here. Hey, something smells good!"

Part of the reason this series doesn't bother me is that it is obvious comedy. And, it's well-done comedy. It's a spoof and not a purposeful slap against dads everywhere. However, the commercial does lose a couple of points for inserting snotty kids that are smarter than the dad--a theme we see way too much of these days.

But overall, I'll give this commercial three stars out of four for comedic relief and at a neutral score on male bashing. That's better than the two coming up Wednesday and Friday. Tune in!