I intended to get this post up yesterday, but the combined forces of a big snow storm and the kids both getting a gnarly (and messy) stomach virus preempted all that. I had a great time watching this year’s Super Bowl between the Patriots and the Seahawks. I didn’t have a dog in the fight per se because I’m a Steelers fan, but since my wife is a Pats fan I found myself rooting for them. Frankly, I was just glad that it wasn’t a total washout like last year’s big game. Continue reading
Commercials
This Progresso Commercial Fills Me With A Very Specific Kind Of Rage
Every single time I see the above commercial for Progresso’s Recipe Starters I let out an audible sigh of rage. It’s not that a company has created something to help home cooks get one step closer to their meal that bugs me. Instead, I find the character of the Progresso chef here to be so patronizing and insulting that it boils my blood. Why shouldn’t that lady make her own fire roasted tomatoes or churn her own butter? You can buy tomato sauce or spend a day making your own, like I did. I don’t want to get too soapbox-y, but there really is something primal and satisfying about spending the time in your kitchen making some of the basic ingredients we tend to take for granted and just pick up off the shelves. I know people are busy and can’t always do that — which is the need the product fills — I just wish they’d taken a less insulting approach to getting their product out in the public consciousness.
Commercial Commentary: Dads Help Get Athletes To The Olympics Too, P&G
If you’ve been watching the Olympics nearly non-stop like we have or even just tuned in for the big events here and there, you’ve probably seen one of the “Thank You, Mom” commercials from Procter & Gamble, a giant corporation that makes everything from Tide to Tampax. I actually like the above spot because I’m a big softie with a baby and I’ll probably always see her that way. But, why does it have to be only “Thank You, Mom?” Would it have been so difficult to either alternate some of the ads between “Thank You, Mom” and “Thank You, Dad” or just “Thank You, Parents?”
I’m of two minds when it comes to these ads and neither of them are happy. First off, I understand that market research says that women do most of the grocery shopping and are thus the ones that ads should be aimed at. Still, it gets under my skin. I’m overly sensitive to these things, of course, because I am basically the antithesis of the big corporate idea of what a parent should be. As such, I find myself cringing or getting peeved while watching commercials in a way that I didn’t before.
On the other hand, it’s just ridiculous that men don’t play into the sports lives of their children (assuming dad’s around, of course). Heck, I heard of a few athletes who were still coached by their dads. I’m not saying that men should be more associated with sports than women , but that both are important. The way I see it, Olympians have parents who did some combination of the following: encouraged their kid to play the sport, taught them how to play, got them the help they needed to play and bankrolled the whole thing. Sometimes it’s a matter of finding a coach and sometimes the coach is in the family. The particulars of who does what aren’t really all that important.
So, what’s the point of this post? I’m not calling for a P&G ban or anything like that, I’d just like to see some of these corporations pull their heads out of the 50s and try to catch up with an ever-changing parental landscape. It would probably be a good idea considering I am the one who does all the shopping.
Commercial Commentary: Capri Sun Gets It
This commercial both made me laugh and nod my head along. I’m sure most parents feel this way about their kids. I know mine probably did and I feel that way about our daughter. Well played Capri Sun, but I still have trouble getting those yellow straws in your silver drink bags, always have.
Commercial Commentary: I Don’t Trust This Music Teacher
Anyone teaching children who’s this obsessed with denim, tunics and Shaun White hoodies should probably not be teaching, even a fake subject like music. Just saying. Gotta call this one a fail on Target’s part.
Let’s Talk About This Old Navy Commercial
I don’t consider myself a prude, but I’ve got to question the usage of Salt-N-Pepa’s “Let’s Talk About Sex” in a freaking jeans commercial. That’s right folks, if you’re unfamiliar with 90s hip hop, the tune heard in the above commercial is the exact same one in the video below with the word “jeans” replacing “sex.”
Weird, right? I don’t have a problem with sex being used to sell clothes by any means. Heck, if I did, I wouldn’t be able to watch television. My problem is having children in the commercial sing this strange bastardization of a song that’s not only good, but actually has an important message about being honest and open about sex and sexuality. Mostly, it’s just a damn weird idea. Who came up with this? Who approved it? Who in the Salt-N-Pepa camp gave them the okay to use their song? It’s a strange world we live in.
