Hat tip to Al Watts at Role/Reboot.
So it seems that after 2 weeks of constant critique and polite disagreement Huggies have finally relented and changed that horrible dad ad of theirs from:
“To prove Huggies diapers and wipes can handle anything, we put them to the toughest test imaginable: Dads, alone with their babies…”
To:
“To prove Huggies diapers can handle anything, we asked real dads to put them to the test with their own babies…”
Ah, much better! Unfortunately, as Al Watts states in his article over at Role/Reboot, where I read about the change, the news has not exactly been met with universal acceptance.
“Some supporters of the original Huggies campaign have come out to say that our response is just political correctness run amok. The original ads were just a joke, they say. We dads should just “man up.” Or, said another way, men should just stay in their place as working stiffs and not expand the definition of masculinity.”
Yep the wingers have been out in force, saying it’s nothing but political correctness gone mad. To those people I say “YOU’RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! IT’S POLITICAL CORRECTNESS! AWESOME, ISN’T IT?”
I mean, really, see how much fairer everything becomes when you just apply a little bit of pressure in the right place? You get a desired outcome that makes life easier for yourself and people in your community and that hopefully will result in the general public taking more of an interest in your issues and seeing things from your point of view.
Oh and on the subject of “it’s just a joke,” let me quote The Smiths by saying “That joke isn’t funny anymore.” (was it ever was funny to begin with? Probably not.) The incompetent bumbling dad stereotype is out-dated and should be dispatched to the garbage heap of history along with “a woman’s place is in the kitchen.” This is fantastic news and I applaud all those fathers who took a stand and made this happen.
I love that the new wording portrays dads as experts in taking care of the challenges that come with raising children. Yay!
@debaser,
But don’t you think the fact that they’ve been forced to backpedal in the right direction is in itself progress?
Wow. Just, wow.
What a great article. A site that actually cares about men’s issues.
And I didn’t read the word ‘femiskank’ anywhere. Thank you 🙂
Druk: “There’s a difference between 1) “haha, that’s so true!” jokes and 2) “wow, I can’t believe you said something so horribly offensive” jokes. When jokes about men being useless regarding childcare are more like the 2nd kind, I won’t mind.”
Wow, you actually believe men are useless regarding childcare and think the original ad falls into the “It’s so true” context?
Thankfully, you’re a minority opnion. The majority have spoken.
I would definitely say that its an improvement. The original headline was worded to say that the dads themselves were the ultimate test while this new headline sounds like they are saying that they wanted to test out the diapers and they got some dads to try them out.
An improvement for sure. Instead of just doing the usual and getting moms to test out something child related they reached out to dads.
Debaser – I think you may be splitting those hairs a little too fine. I mean I was way up in arms over the original ads too. I will give them credit that they listened to our concerns and changed the ads to better reflect a strong male positive and pro fatherhood image. Am I happy that they did this? Yes I am. Am I still bothered by the fact they didn’t see an issue with running the original ad? Also yes. But it’s important to remember that they listened. This marks a definite change in the way that men… Read more »
@Skull Bearer: I agree that political correctness usually just means not being an asshole, but “we should use inclusive language” can so easily become “You have to use exactly the right words in order to participate in a discussion.” That’s the impulse I have a problem with. It takes effort to police one’s language, and even the most weaselly of politicians will fail at it occasionally. It doesn’t take any effort to feign offense so as not to have to address someone’s point.
“handle anything” still says, to me, that dads aren’t good at handling their own children…progress made, zero
I always thought Bob Chipman had the right idea about political correctness:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/2783-Correctitude
This is fantastic. Bow to the will of the people. This type of trope regarding men as inferior parent’s needs to be relegated to the same place in history as ‘women belong in the kitchen’ jokes. What did Huggies supposed male same-sex couples did? Just never change a diaper?
As they say, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words cause permanent damage.
I think the OP hit on it perfectly. It’s not about trying to curtail freedom of speech, it’s just expressing disapproval for an unfunny joke that insults a huge segment of the population. Look at Russel Peters. That guy’s funny as all hell, and offensive as all hell. The original Huggies joke, however, was just offensive.
Holy strawman, ruthless!
On topic, though: this is good news. Yay dads!
One small step for man, one giant leap for humankind.
I like the bit of progress I see here.
There’s a difference between 1) “haha, that’s so true!” jokes and 2) “wow, I can’t believe you said something so horribly offensive” jokes. When jokes about men being useless regarding childcare are more like the 2nd kind, I won’t mind.
Hell yeah. If people are so worried about men “stepping up” and being parents then maybe it will do just a little bit of good to not insult them when they are doing it.
Just saying yo….