As Usual, Dad's an Idiot In Super Bowl Ads

February 8, 2005

"Fathers were portrayed as bumbling, incompetent, selfish and petty in yesterday's Super Bowl ads," says Glenn Sacks, a nationally-syndicated men's and father's issues radio talk show host. Sacks cites Jack in the Box, Cadillac, Staples, and Emerald Nuts as the worst offenders.

"In the Emerald Nuts commercial dad is selfish and lies to his little daughter rather than give her some nuts. In the end he gets scolded and humiliated by Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and a Unicorn for deceiving his daughter," Sacks explains.

"In the Staples ad dad can't change a diaper. In the Jack in the Box ad dad is a fool playing with his burger-making machine while his teenage son rolls his eyes. In the Cadillac commercial, a dad rushes out into the night to save his teenage daughter, who has eloped with her boyfriend in dad's car. As dad somehow figures out where they're heading and heads them off, for a moment we expect to see a loving dad taking a stand to protect his daughter. But of course, all he's concerned about is his Cadillac, telling his daughter he doesn't care what she does, 'just use your mothers' car.'"

The controversy over anti-father advertising has been in the news since Sacks led a successful campaign against the Verizon commercial "Homework" in November. During that campaign over 2,000 protestors deluged Verizon Communications with calls and e- mails, and 300 newspapers and news outlets reported the protest. A couple weeks later Verizon announced that the commercial was no longer airing.

Several other companies had Super Bowl ads using the "men as idiots" theme, including Budweiser, Sprint, Degree, and Michelob, as well as two ads from Verizon. Others played on the "men kicked in the groin" and "men's pain is funny" themes, including Federal Express, State Farm, and Ameriquest.

On a positive note, Sacks commends Saturn for a "father- positive" commercial in which a young black man talks about "chillin' with his boys," who turn out to be his two sons in the back seat with whom he's sharing an afternoon.