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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To get annoyed with stereotypical adverts?

23 replies

Pyjamaramadrama · 19/07/2014 09:36

I just saw the dettol advert where the mum calls her family in saying "dinner is served". And puts a their meals onto the table.

Most adverts seem to be like this the mum, or the woman doing the chores, bringing in the drinks, buying the best soap powder for her kids and husbands filthy clothes.

It probably is still like this in most people's homes.

OP posts:
sonlypuppyfat · 19/07/2014 09:41

You would really love me then, SAHM does everything in the home DH brings the money in never does any house work DS15 will sometimes dry up when he wants to tell me something. I don't think I'm very unusual in this either.

NoArmaniNoPunani · 19/07/2014 09:43

YANBU OP. They don't represent my home situation either.

phantomnamechanger · 19/07/2014 09:45

I don't know why it bugs you if you accept it probably is like that in most homes. Adverts reflect life.
If they tried too hard to be PC by having he dad doing the chores and the mum going off to work (or perish the thought, what about a set of same sex parents?) then they would be slated for trying too hard!

FreudiansSlipper · 19/07/2014 09:47

yanbu

men being crap at cooking/cleaning/looking after their children as they can not do more than one thing at once reinforces the message it's a woman's job

phantomnamechanger · 19/07/2014 09:47

before anyone picks up on my use of perish the thought, I am in no way anti same sex partners, it was meant to mean along the lines of "or how about being even more radical"

Pyjamaramadrama · 19/07/2014 09:49

Hmm I'm not sure why it bugs me so much.

Possibly because of the constant reinforcement that the stereotypical way is the correct way, the default.

When actually for a lot of women (not all) it's a miserable existence.

OP posts:
OwlinaTree · 19/07/2014 09:55

Isn't that a really old advert? Does she offer them gravy at the end?

MoominKoalaAndMiniMoom · 19/07/2014 10:04

I think if they did adverts with the men doing it, the same group who say it's reinforcing the message that it's a woman's job, would say that it's patronising and condescending.

They can't win, really.

Sandthorn · 19/07/2014 10:05

Adverts reflect life.

Seriously? Well, I'd better dust off my rollerblades, seeing as my period's due.

YANBU, OP. If things are still this way round, the media has a big part to play in reinforcing the stereotypes.

OwlinaTree · 19/07/2014 10:06

Do you remember the one where the men cook and eat the tea, then lick the plates and put them straight back into the cupboard? Grin

FreudiansSlipper · 19/07/2014 10:07

I always smile and laugh when I eat salad even if I am on my own

not sure why but think it is because I am a woman as other women obviously do I have seen it in an advert

OwlinaTree · 19/07/2014 10:08

I don't think I fall for the ' this fabric softener is better' message but I do think I subconsiously think everyone else's house and kitchen is exceptionally clean all the time.

Viviennemary · 19/07/2014 10:09

I think there are a few adverts showing men cleaning and looking after children. But there's still quite a few twee ones with Mummy doing everything. I don't agree Adverts reflect life. Far from it.

TurquoiseCat · 19/07/2014 10:21

The thing is though, adverts don't reflect life, they reflect what the advertisers think the public WANT their lives to be like. Otherwise adverts would be just "bleach. You need it. Buy this one" rather than the lifestyle-improving, scare-mongering tat that they are. Which is why you never see bin bags advertised, because advertisers can't sell the lifestyle.

YANBU.

ForalltheSaints · 19/07/2014 10:29

If you can, boycott the products concerned. And encourage others.

JoeyMaynardsghost · 19/07/2014 10:44

The advert worked. You remember the product. Which may or may not influence your next purchases. Adverts are there to annoy/inspire/agree with/disagree with with one aim which is to get that product's name into your head.

I don't watch any live tv. Anything I watch is via I-player as I'm too busy reading disorganised to catch something at the actual time it's on. So if I see an advert it's because I've become aware that it's clever or otherwise worth watching and I catch it on You-tube.

LePetitPont · 19/07/2014 10:55

YANBU. As pp have said, mum as household drudge just reinforces the stereotype and gender construction around women and domesticity.

There are a few with dads in, but invariably the "plot line" is all in the children being highly sceptical of the dad attempting any housework / cooking. Men definitely have no skills in the kitchen in real life, you know - Heston, Jamie, Michel et al - all a big hoax.

JimmyCorkhill · 19/07/2014 22:18

The Munch Bunch yogurts one shocked me as it has a girl walking in an adult's high heels and a boy lifting weights. She wants to be like mummy and he wants to be strong like daddy. i didn't know you could be so obviously sexist these days.

believeintheshield · 19/07/2014 23:15

YANBU. I drive my DH up the wall moaning about this, although that particular advert had missed my attention (although I've seen it). Things like this just perpetuate attitudes that aren't helpful to men or women. I also hate all the adverts based on the idea that men are rubbish at household chores - it strengthens the idea that these things are the woman's job, but in a lighthearted and humorous way that makes you look like a misery if you point it out. Incidentally, my DH (who is a SAHD) gets really het up about that formula advert with the tag line "mums, you're doing great". He basically feels that it tells him that as a man he's not worth mentioning when it comes to our DS, as he's not a mum.

ILovedYouYesterday · 19/07/2014 23:25

Maybe it just happened to be her turn to cook that night. And it does appear that the Dad has been looking after the baby while she cooked, so he's not all bad!

There's a nice one where a Dad cooks a shepherds pie for his daughter who's just been dumped by her boyfriend.

I know what you mean though Grin

taxi4ballet · 19/07/2014 23:30

"That's why Mums go to Iceland"

Ah, bless.

Hedgebets · 20/07/2014 00:02

YANBU

Cliches depress me

It's the very fact they've had to fall back on the "traditional set up" that is the problem. What are they paying their creatives for?

JCDenton · 20/07/2014 01:27

It manages to annoy both sexes. Women think 'why is all the housework down to me?'. Men think 'I wouldn't forget to clean/eat/breathe if it wasn't for 'mum', you know'.

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