The switch is this: men are made to look like idiots...most of the time. Have you noticed this? It's in yogurt commercials. "Yeah, I have lost weight--I eat key lime pie, Boston cream pie..." the man says while he is on the phone. His wife looks over from the fridge with an expression that says "You're so dumb" and then literally says to him in a disapproving voice, "honey..." and he hangs up the phone with a guilty expression. There's the vacuum ad where the husband is trying to do something with the blinds on a ladder and starts to fall out the window. Luckily the wife can suck him back in with the end of the vacuum hose! Because she is the wife. And gosh, her husband is stupid! Last night Cooper and I just looked at each other without even having to say anything after a Papa Murphy's commercial. The all-American family is sitting down for a nice dinner outside. Dad is on the grill. And oh my, that grill is just smoking because dear ol' Dad obviously doesn't know what he is doing. He looks just so silly over the charcoal grill. The wife looks over, exasperated. Thank goodness there is Papa Murphy's to come in and save the day as the worker comes up to the table with a fully-cooked (absolutely disgusting-looking) cheeseburger pizza complete with pickles. Yay! The family will be able to eat after all! One more quick camera sweep over to the stupid husband/father and the commercial is done. He is still trying to fan away ALL that smoke.
Honestly it bothers me. It bothers men. Men need to know they are trusted, respected, believed in. It is a hard thing to do sometimes. But it's these little things like advertising (really a BIG thing as it has been proven) that creep into our brains in the moments when we need to stand behind our husbands. Dangerous territory to think that I can handle everything and clean up ALL his mistakes (because oh man, there will be so many according to tv).
Brian Regan's stand-up line is "My husband is SOOOO stupid." And that truly is what these commercials are depicting more often than not. I completely understand that women do many many things around the house just by sheer habit or necessity. But personally, I could not have fixed my own brake pads the other night (thanks, honey!). It might be hard to remember to encourage, but I know I need encouragement and husbands (men in general!) do too. If we all work on showing respect to one another, I think (I hope) this kind of advertising will move on because it won't be funny and it won't sell. I love my men...the furry ones included. :) And I'm thankful for the things that we do for one another. We fill different roles. And both need to be encouraged and supported! :)
