Jim Higley watched the new Huggies commercial that puts the emphasis on dads. And it’s got his underwear in knots.
It’s been a long time since I’ve changed a diaper. It’s also been a long time since I’ve paid attention to anything about diapers. But a new television ad from Huggies recently caught my attention. And it looks like I’m not alone. Read on.
Does Anyone Else Smell Something?
Wanna know what’s smellier than a stinky diaper?
Well, it looks like a lot of people think the answer to that question rests in Huggies newly launched ad campaign featuring the “Ultimate Test” – a group of dads who (presumably) don’t change diapers on a timely basis.
Here’s the video on Huggie’s Facebook page.
I saw this ad the other night for the first time. I actually had heard – months ago – that Huggies was kicking off a new “pro-dad” campaign in 2012. So my initial reaction, as I started focusing on the 30-second spot, was to start high-fiving the television screen. But my first reaction was more like a great big”ouch.” Something didn’t feel right. So I backed up the recorder to watch it again. Then again. Surely I was just missing something. Right? This is 2012.
I watched that commercial four or five times in a row to try to figure it out.
Ultimate test? That has the potential for funny.
Kids loaded up with a warm bottle right before a nap. Oh yeah. I get it. Funny. I’ll laugh.
But every time I rewatched the commercial, I swear that they were suggesting that the “Ultimate Test” wasn’t the set-up with the bottle right before nap time. Nope. They were saying that the “Ultimate Test” was Dad. Dear old dad.
And it was rubbing me the wrong way. But since I’m no longer a consumer of disposable diapers, I just brushed it off – thinking I must be the only guy on the planet who even noticed the commercial.
Huggies’ Ultimate Test
It seems to me that the real “Test” here – for the folks at Huggies – is how they are going to navigate through what clearly is a messy, stinky, dirty public relations mess. If you take a quick look through the campaign’s Facebook Page it’s pretty clear that a lot of parents noticed the commercial as well. I wasn’t alone. And most parents are not happy.
Some examples:
- “Right, Dads all idiots, thanks for the continuous stereotype that Dad’s can’t care for their children.”
- “Hey jerks – thanks for contributing to the perception that fathers are incompetent parents who let babies lay around in their own waste until they can be rescued…”
- “The narrow view of gender roles maintained and supported by Huggies (and ads, TV shows, etc. like this) hurts dads AND moms. We should all be free to fill our family roles in the way that makes sense based on our skills and interests, not on some antiquated, stereotypical gender binary.”
Campaign Redo
I’m gonna give Huggies some credit. For trying to get dads involved in a promotion is great. It’s long-overdue. But, as one of the commenters on Facebook pointed out, it sure doesn’t look like Huggies did any focus group testing on this campaign before they launched it. Looks to me like they’re the ones with leaky diapers. What a mess.
But the surprising thing is how they are handling it. They’re trying to put a positive spin on the campaign as bringing a focus on dads. Sorry. For me that comment’s dirtier than the diapers we’re talking about.
The Fix is Easy
I actually have a solution. (Note to Huggies: Let me know where to send my invoice for creative services.)
Do a redo of the commercial. Go ahead and keep the “Ultimate Test” theme. But make the idea of the “Ultimate Test” being a bunch of babies who just enjoyed a nice warm bottle before nap time. THAT’s the test.
Swap out a couple of those chairs with moms. So you’ve got a room full of moms and dads (collectively, we call them “Parents.”)
Relaunch the campaign with that. Parents. And don’t make a big deal about it including moms and dads. Let the picture speak for itself.
Get over the gender thing, will ya, Huggies?
Because, as best as I can tell from all the comments you’re ignoring on Facebook, most of us parents have been over the gender thing for years.
About Jim Higley
If you agree with my comments, I hope you’ll join me in signing a petition to Huggies – asking them to be a change-leader and rework this commercial to reflect real, contemporary parenting: https://www.change.org/petitions/huggies-new-dad-campaign-casts-dads-in-old-negative-stereotypical-role-kudos-for-trying-a-dad-ad-but-a-revamp-is-needed-to-reflect-real-dads
Good Afternoon
I think this was a sexist stab at us dads who are out here taking care of our children and the only way big corperations like this will learn they can not do this is by placing a lawsuit against them.
Done.
It’s great to see so many mainstream men (and women) saying NO to this type of advertising now.
Thanks from the UK for highlighting this – dads are not treated equally in law here (the background assumption being dads are at best incompetent or at worst dangerous) and this ads both reflect and re-enforce that institutional and societal bias against men
I have signed your online petition and blogged about this issue at The Men’s Network site from Brighton & Hove in England – you can read the blog post here: http://tinyurl.com/7x535gu
Hey Glen – greatly appreciate your comment. And REALLY value the post you wrote for The Men’s Network site. If anyone reading my comment didn’t click through to Glen’s post for our pals on the other side of the pond, I highly recommend doing so. It’s interesting to see you guys deal with the same issues of how dads are portrayed. We’ve got a big conference coming up here in the US (Dad 2.0 Summit) where dads and brands are meeting together to explore a number of topics. You can be sure that you’re story will come up. Thanks again. Jim
Jim, IMO, this is truly much ado about nothing.
I am all for divorced dads having equal access to their kids but this ad has nothing to do with that per se. But, I am even more in favor of married mothers and fathers co-parenting cooperatively whenever possible.
I personally think you should be grateful that dads are being featured at all.
Hey Eric, Thanks for your thoughts. I agree with you – and mentioned it – I think it’s great Huggies is featuring dads. That’s great. I just personally think they used an old stereotyped-blundering-doofus dad image in the ad when all they needed to do was portray dads the way most dads really are.
I also agree with your comment about divorced dads – as well as married partners co-parenting cooperatively – but wasn’t sure how that tied into my thoughts on the commercial. But 100% your thoughts on the matter!
Thanks for taking the time to write.
Thanks, Jim.
I may have over-reacted a bit on your article in light of one written by Ms. Jasmine and other pieces I have read here that suggest that “nurturing” of babies and little kids is the sum total of parenting, as if they are at those stages throughout their growing up years, whereas the toughest (IMO) part of parenting is the guidance/discipline/moral training aspect, which extends through their teens and even into young adulthood.
Fathers play a key role in those areas.I doubt anybody would refer to that as “nurturing.” But it sure the heck is parenting.
Amen brother! You sound like the dad of teens (I’ve got 3).
Getting your kids through all those older years (as you pointed out) makes diaper changing look like eating cupcakes!
Thanks again for reading and commenting, Eric.
You nailed this, Jim. I was prepared to not be offended by these ads based on descriptions I had read, but when I finally watched them, my hackles went right up. The “we left kids alone with their dads for 5 days” ad is just loaded with images of dads doing dopey things with their kids, which would be fine since the best of us make blunders every day, if they didn’t ham-fistedly imply that dads are way more likely to screw up than moms.
And the voice-overs in the aforementioned and the “bottle/nap” one are dripping with condescension. Your solution is perfect too. I mean, why did they have to make it *hilarious* that men were taking care of their kids? Why couldn’t they just, you know, show some men taking care of their kids? As if it were normal? Sheesh.
Hey, thanks for the comment. Yeah….that voiceover just as well should have said…..” So we put them to the real test (pause)……MONKEYS!” I agree, the first ad was fine and funny. This one just missed the mark! See ya later this week!