To think Center Parcs should be ashamed of this

[ReallyCenterParcs]

I think it may have been deleted now, but not before Center Parcs hid or deleted comments pointing out the stereotyping and misogyny of this Facebook post...
One comment I saw said mum's not keeping up because of all the shopping, cooking, washing and organising she had to before the family got to sodding Center Parcs in the first place. And she's riding a shite bike they've given her

@ReallyCenterParcs

This advert immediatly made me think of my DM. She was always chilling at the back. Me a DD with competitive DB would be racing to the front and I would have for many years with DH. Now as Im older with my own children, I look at this as she isnt incapable of riding quicker, She is just making the active wise decision to just chill at the back as this probably the only quiet time she had all day!

Wise Woman!

You can get three nights over a weekend in Elveden in a lodge with three bedrooms for 600 quid at the moment.

@WhatsTheUseOfWorrying

Yes, the most we have paid for a weekend is 1400 I think. Struggling to see where 5000 came from and we go during peak time a lot!

I haven't read the thread beyond OP's posts so sorry if this is already discussed, but if the advert had said "Keep up Dad" instead of mum, would that be better? Or would we then have men muttering about how they would keep up if they weren't working 12 hour days in addition to contributing to housework and childcare?

The kids look like school age, why would the mother stay home and look after them while dad cycles to work?
I just don’t think it’s necessarily a given that dad gets to do all the fun stuff, while mum doesn’t get a chance to do anything for herself. Or that she’s completely exhausted by all the work she does around the house and her family.
I know plenty of families (including my own) where that’s not the case.
Maybe dad is fitter because he likes cycling in his free time while mum doesn’t, or maybe mum is actually the fitter one but she’s just enjoying a leisurely ride on this particular occasion 🤷‍♀️

I think it’s the phraseology that’s annoying. Not just “keep up mum” but “That “keep up mum” moment. Implying this is something that happens a lot, that in most/many families the mum is the slow one at the back who can’t keep up.

Fact is, mum is probably hanging back to deal with any falls/scraped knees/clothing or helmet issues. While dad hares off at the front oblivious.

I don’t think it’s offensive.

I think it’s the way children are - probably they decided to focus on Mum because as people have said, Mums often book the holidays. The Mum’s the one they’re calling to, the one they’re involving in their fun.

What a sexist infuriating advert. I organised a very big bike ride event and my boyfriend at the time decided to come along. You wouldn’t believe how many people we met assumed I was the sad tag along girlfriend to my boyfriend’s epic bike ride adventure.

There are plenty of mums who are fitter and more active than their husbands. Me being one.

If the number on post on MN are anything to go by, and my own experience is in with that, so many women work hard to make sure their kids have nice holidays that otherwise wouldnt happen if left to the husband to organise.

So trying to attract a particular demographic by taking the piss out of it was a hell of a bad decision. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you!

As for "would Keep up Dad" be better......

It would be far more realistic to have the kids haring off in front and the tagline "That 'Slow down, use your brakes!' moment". Thats what happened when mine were young and we tried bike rides (happened twice.......)

My offended-o-meter is barely flickering.
I can think of far more offence worthy stuff to get excited about.

I wouldn't have noticed had you not said anything. However, in terms of marketing it's probably a bit crap because as someone said, it's mums that probably book the bloody holiday and laughing at them isn't great marketing.

Agree. Not the worst example but it’s sexist nonetheless. But MN is full of women doormats who simply do not understand or see sexism. I don’t know what it is…brainwashing by the patriarchy? lack of intelligence? trying to look ‘cool’? I honestly don’t know.

The forum is populated by so many women who don’t seem keen to stamp out everyday sexism and it’s depressing. I have one of the few equal relationships I know, and I cannot believe what some women are happy to tolerate and condone from their male partners.

This is a relatively ‘minor’ example but we should have zero tolerance. I don’t go round ‘looking for offence’, which is the new thick term for ‘PC gawn maaad’. I would be delighted not to see it!

Can you point out where anyone has said this is all they have to worry about? I must have missed it. Or is just a silly trite comment you have typed without engaging your brain?

I am not surprised. There are many people in this country who are still backwards in their thinking! Well done on your likes though, this has clearly made you very proud! 🥇

@EnjoyTheFlowers or maybe we just don't get offended over that advert.
I understand sexism very well and I'm certainly not a doormat as my DH and colleagues would tell you.
I can think of more worthy things to get offended about than an advert for a shit holiday park.

It’s not great, at all.
Their target audience is almost certainly parents, mothers in particular, and it wouldn’t make me rush to book put it that way!

it gets my back up slightly and a just fuck off and leave me alone sensation. Not exactly what they had in mind I suspect.

It all feels like hard work. The cooking, cleaning, the shitty comments only add to the misery - type of reaction.

Idiotic marketing done on the cheap.

I dont think the picture itself is problematic. I think the call to action is hitting a nerve because "Keep Up Mum" is means the advert is probably talking to Mum because she takes responsibility of booking the family holiday and that's what's hitting a nerve.

I suspect this advert has been made based on actual data that they hold on who the lead booker is for family holidays... the woman.

Another one who needs to have a day off.

But the ‘that’ moment campaign hinges entirely on these being moments that people in general can relate to! That’s the point.

Misogyny is age-related. Young, active and female - great! Someone’s middle-aged mum - boring and probably lazy!

I do think people are being deliberately obtuse on this thread.

I agree. Who wants to be perceived as a slow and inactive person that ‘can’t keep up’ 🤷🏼‍♀️

Daddy can though, mind. Must be all the extra curricular hobbies he has time for….

All the pink helmets and coats etc are cliche as well.

‘Representation’ isn’t fancy at all. I mentioned it because many posters were saying things like “but I’m faster at cycling than my husband” as if that’s relevant. Mums are being represented as the slow one because it taps into a lazy, misogynistic stereotype.

It’s GCSE media studies at best. Nothing for the senior common room to worry about!

@GreenAppleCrumble Do you care if middle aged mums are perceived as boring and lazy?
They've probably packed more into their years than any youngster, I know I certainly have, hence I don't give a shit how people perceive me.
It's as old as time that the younger generation will think they're the only ones in the world to have done something and older people are just fuddy duddies.
I still can't get offended over that advert.

I agree that the ad is not particularly a huge issue, but I think peoples point is it reinforces a stereotype of women being poorer in sport, so it’s not the best and a bit poor taste.

However, I think we’d assume that because it’s factually true women tend to do most of the housework and carry ‘mother’s load’ when mum to a family of children.
“About 91 % of women with children spend at least an hour per day on housework, compared with 30 % of men with children.”
https://eige.europa.eu/publications-resources/toolkits-guides/gender-equality-index-2021-report/gender-differences-household-chores?language_content_entity=en#:~:text=About%2091%20%25%20of%20women%20with,30%20%25%20of%20men%20with%20children.