Why Am I So Upset About This Ad?
It's a terrible message.
Even suggesting that dads leave their children in their diapers too long (which is NOT good for the baby) means that Huggies believes in the stereotype that dads are somehow an inferior parent. Now they want you to nominate someone who intentionally leaves their baby's diaper on too long? Wow. Are there some guys that don't do well changing diapers? Sure. But don't put me in that category. Besides, the dads that are great at parenting probably shop for diapers too. Which brings me to the second reason that I am upset about this ad.
It's terrible marketing!
Any time you risk offending a loyal customer it's probably a bad idea. Hey, Huggies, I shop for diapers. And when I do, it won't be your brand. How happy are you with the results of your ad campaign now? Oh, and Huggies, I also write a blog that gets thousands of page views per month and I plan on spreading the message that you created with this campaign: Huggies doesn't think dads are good parents. What? That's not the message you intended? Well, if you put something out there and don't explain it, it is up to your customers to determine what it means, so that's what I'm doing.
Huggies might say, "Matt, we aren't saying that dads are not capable parents, just that they do it differently." And put children at risk of diaper rash? Not mine. And if dads are "the ultimate test" that must mean they think ALL dads behave this way. Really? Are there any parents on the team that put this campaign together? And Huggies might say, "Didn't you see the commercials?" Nope. I didn't see them because I was too busy parenting and changing diapers. If you don't put them on the facebook page of the campaign, I don't know that they exist. It's just plain poor execution.
When you create a campaign like this and you don't show dads in a positive light, not only do you offend the dads that could be potential customers, but you probably offend a lot of women who have men that help them take care of their children and do the shopping. It's not good marketing.
It amazes me that major brands haven't figured out how to talk to both sexes. Granted, some have shown major improvement - Tide, VW, Vicks and PAMPERS to name a few - but there are still some pretty big offenders, and Huggies is now on the list.
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I am sick of it to tell you the truth - there seems to be a trend of putting gender stereotypes on everything at the moment. In this day and age women are still shown as doing the cooking, nurturing and cleaning in ads, men are often been shown as being incompetent mess makers but loveable. Take a look at this video by huggies - also gendered. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydWMY8cYPUU - now imagine if that toddler was a little girl and all the men where stopping to look at her diaper - seems like it is okay to sexualize little boys.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. I am looking forward to their response. I don't really like the Huggies approach to advertising. The promotion of family (whatever it looks like) doesn't seem to be a part of their corporate culture. They say "we love dads" but there are no men on their website other than this new commercial. Pampers has an entire section devoted to family members other than mom.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure me and my wife blow thru diapers with frequent changes even when we see a little blue on the wet strip we change but i know of some people that wait for it to turn super soaked dark blue before they change the diaper. My son is 4 and had no major diaper rashes just occasional redness here and there same with our 10 month old. When i'm out and about i see just as many MOMS letting their kids run around with a diaper so wet and funky it's pitty-Full LOL!!
ReplyDelete@STLDADDY - Thanks for the support! I agree with everything you just said. Even the pun.
ReplyDeleteThis is crazy. There are just as many moms, aunts grandparents or whatever who don't change diapers immediately. Thanks for calling it out. Really bad marketing. Who would I nominate? Like I'd want to admit I know parents who neglect kids? Ugh
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Janice. I nominated myself and told them how good I am at changing my daughter's Pampers diapers as soon as she's wet. When are brands going to learn?
DeleteI hate it when companies make dads seem "less than..." anything. Reminds me of the Ragu campaign where dads/men were left out. I love dads who are involved and to be honest, there are quite a few moms who pale in comparison to some dads! You GO Matt!
ReplyDeleteHi Mimi! Yeah, we had our rounds with Ragu. Thankfully, the big guns (CC Chapman) and others got on that one quickly. Thanks for the support.
DeleteReally now, suggesting that letting, yeah letting, a dad have a crack at changing a diaper for the comic effect. Get with the program and dare I say the present. I don't see that they suggest that dads don't change diapers enough, just the suggestion that dads have no clue as to what they are doing before using this product. Do your diapers install themselves? Maybe come with a manual with simple pictures that "even a dad" can understand?
ReplyDeleteIf only there were a way that dads could speak out against this. Ah, how about leveraging the brand name to promote a rival brand while speaking our minds in a manner that can be read by other like minded people. Oh right, you did that already...
Thanks from another dad that shares the changing table with his spouse.
Oh yeah, please let me have the privilege of parenting! It's no fair that only moms get to do that! Their form reply email to me said that they were showing just how much their diapers could hold by leaving kids with dad (because we don't change our kids immediately, we all let them fill to capacity). Thanks for the kind words and biting sarcasm, Mark. Loved it!
DeleteI can't get worked up over this... Does the commercial insinuate that dads are any less of a parent? Absolutely, but it also says that mom is being sent to the spa. Maybe they don't want to go to the spa and would rather go to spring training. This doesn't make ME or YOU any less of a dad. We know what we do, and I think most people see right through this. We dads have to get over this woe is me everyone thinks of us as a secondary parent and just focus being a parent. I honestly don't care what people think about my parenting skills, I have two kids that think I'm doing a great job and THAT is all that matters.
ReplyDeleteJohn, I totally understand where you're coming from. I just can't agree with you. My background is in marketing, so I can't help but pay attention to this stuff. I, too, know my parenting prowess, but I am kind of tired of dads being the butt of every joke.
DeleteIt's funny, I didn't care that much before I became a dad, but now that I am, and now that I have met hundreds of dads that are doing what I do, I have decided to use my blog to call out brands that feature dads both positively (Tide, Pampers, Vicks, VW, etc) and negatively (most recently Huggies and Ragu). I do think that there is power in speaking your mind, and that the only way corporations will ever change the way that they market to people is if their customers tell them they don't like it or aren't paying attention or aren't going to buy their product.
I also happen to be involved with the The National At Home Dad Network(Daddy's Home, Inc.) and one of their goals is to be an advocate for the cause of involved fatherhood. So, do you have to get worked up over this? No. You can rest assured that we're doing our part to bring attention to it so that dads everywhere can just keep on parenting.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Next time bring the Legos!
After seeing Clorox get it so right, you wonder WHAT THE HECK Huggies is thinking!
ReplyDeleteCheck out this commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMAtkMFqjJQ&feature=pyv
Although, I don't really like the dad ignoring his kid to talk about his "fully-loaded" minivan, this is a more realistic commercial. You are the second person to mention this one. I really like some of the ones that VW is using like these:
Deletehttp://youtu.be/KjWgK7jS-tw
http://youtu.be/DtYPhBK61d0
If celebrating fatherhood is not a part of their corporate culture (like it is for Pampers, for example) then it definitely won't come through in their advertising. Try to find a picture of a dad on their website.
I saw that commercial, too, Bruce. I'm not sure what upsets me more about these commercials - that they almost always portray dads as bumbling parental morons or that we let companies get away with it!
DeleteMoaSD - As someone who worked in the marketing field, I really have a problem when companies poorly execute their marketing initiatives. I'm sure they spent thousands of dollars developing the campaign, why wouldn't they make sure it was executed properly?
DeleteI agree these commercials are awful? I mean glad the diapers won't leak for an entire football game but what parent is letting their child sit in a dirty diaper just to avoid missing the game? After all, that's what commercial breaks are for :-)
ReplyDeleteJessica - Thanks for stopping by. I'm glad it's not just dads that are upset by campaigns like this. Thank you for your comments.
DeleteMy husband is an AMAZING father & has always been just as helpful with our children as I am...if not more...he also felt the commercial was horrific. We have never used Huggies & now we for sure never will. I am very pleased to find more dads out there like him. Yay for awesome fathers!
ReplyDeleteThanks C.S.M, there are a lot of us out there changing diapers and parenting right along side you moms. We love doing it, and we don't like when companies think we're not capable because we're male. Thank you for the comment.
Delete@Bloggerfather had the same idea - as did I in my blog (reviewsasaparent.tumblr.com) and got a response from Huggies.
ReplyDelete@BloggerFather: .@haffnerryan I got an answer from Huggies. Thought you might be interested (I included your blog in my post) https://www.facebook.com/huggies/posts/10150589027919387
Unfortunately, their "answer" only drives home how insulting the whole thing is. They love and celebrate dads by making how well their products stand up to his ineptitude their ad campaign?
ReplyDeleteI've set up a petition asking Huggies to truly celebrate dads here: http://chn.ge/yIi5qS
Please think about reading, signing, and sharing it. Thank you!
I got the same form email from them as well. It's sad that they just can't do an ad with competent fathers or moms and dads parenting together. I have reached out to Pampers to see if they would like to share how they embrace fathers.
ReplyDeleteHi Matt. It's really offending when Dads being are referred to as less good in taking care of the kids. They always thought that Dads are just slouching their butts on the sofa, darn, those days are gone already err perhaps there are some who really does that but hey they shouldn't generalized us.
ReplyDeleteYour post reminds of about RebelDad's experience with diapers as well.
I do hope to get exchanges of ideas with you by the way my blog is Daddy Yashiro's Journal.
Thanks for joining the conversation! If you haven't already, read my latest post about how things are changing with Huggies. I will check out your blog immediately!
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