I usually leave Ad Age stuff to others to cover, but this one is upping the WTF? factor big time. It’s bad enough we have skittish brands pulling spots with suicidal candy bars, but this househusband lobby needs to chill. So in their opinion, Arnold makes ads for other clients that portray men in a bad light so Volvo should award the work to Euro. WELCOME TO THE FUCKING CLUB. It’s advertising and it’s about three things, well, four maybe, but in no order:1. HOT CHICKS IN BEER COMMERCIALS.
2. (See no. 1.)
3. Guys as bumbling idiots.
4. Happy kids eating macaroni and cheese.
That’s it. Guys, I don’t like being portrayed as a bumbling idiot who doesn’t understand women either, but make no mistake, you’re getting your
Tags: Volvo, Husbands and Fathers
4 comments:
This movement is pretty huge in the UK, Bill. There was a whole cover story about it in the NY Times Sunday magazine, maybe a year ago-- the movement is tied into things like child support and joint custody and rights of divorced dads to see their kids, etc.
Here's a link, can't find the Times story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3728753.stm
And valid points in the arena of law where many dads get screwed out of custody. But this is the arena of advertising where lately we've had too many brands yanking spots over issues that the minority finds offensive.
Last time I checked, it was majority rule. But then I'm a blogger. I believe all kinds of things.
;-p
This movement IS pretty big (in both the UK and the US). 1000 men and women wrote to Volvo on the first day of the campaign.
As far as Euro doing such an ad is concerned, maybe they would and maybe they wouldn't. They do have a pretty good track record when it comes to portrayals of fathers and husbands. But the really cool NEW thing is that if an agency does create such an ad, there's a good chance it will cost them a not so small fortune.
Lots of marketers are going to respond to this new dynamic because they're coming to know that our society is in trouble as a result of the unmet needs for competent, involved fathers. (It's the single greatest contributor to academic failure, juvenile delinquency and crime.) They, like the rest of us also see that the media has been unwilling to show fathers meeting this need.
If you think about it, you might come to see that it's a good thing.
Again, if we're having this discussion in the context of normal societal issues, than discussing the issue of people who have suffered injustice is fair. Even moreso if we're in a court of law.
But we're not.
We’re talking about the world of advertising and nobody responding to this has addressed that particular point. I’m not trying to be jerk about this. I understand how the rights of fathers can get trampled on both as a child of divorce and as an adult, watching a few divorces in the family turn bitter–for both parties.
But my complaint is not about that.
It's about how much advertising is now being blamed for everything wrong in society, like heavy metal was 20 years ago and Elvis 20 before that. Even the smallest thing in an ad can offend anyone, and that’s wrong.
Worse, if enough people complain and say ‘jump,’ even though they're in a minority, brands say “How high?” I wish ads had that power to persuade like that, but they don’t. Apparently special interest groups and the merely offended do.
Advertising doesn’t make laws or influence people to do something, much as people want to believe it does. (If it did, people would rush out and buy all the Volvos.)
And as such, what is the group’s stand on the Ford spot a while back that dealt with the issue of a divorced/separated couple in a seemingly respectful way dropping off the dad after a weekend visit?
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