Wal-Mart Promotes Old-Fashioned Parenting Roles
Jezebel has alerted me to a troubling trend in Wal-Mart advertisements. It’s not exactly new news that Wal-Mart is not a progressive company, but this is still a pretty shameless ad campaign for the 21st Century.
So, what do the following two ads have in common?
No, I’m not talking about the fact that both of these dorm rooms like they were colored in by a six-year-old with a brand new box of crayons, though that is indeed a striking similarity.
More importantly, where are the dads? According to Jezebel, Wal-Mart has a third ad that depicts–you guessed it–a mother buying all of her son’s college furnishings.
Come on, Wal-Mart, in three commercials, you couldn’t at least have a dad carrying a fridge or unrolling a rug? It also weirds me out how the two freshman guys at the end of the second commercial compare photos of their moms–again, no hint of any paternal connection.
Either a lot of single mothers shop at Wal-Mart, or Wal-Mart is a big fan of the strong, silent type–the kind of dad who gives his kid a firm pat on the back before letting Mom tearfully get him settled in his new school.
But didn’t that brand of parenting become unpopular circa 1959?
Image: bearlyedible.com
Ugh. So dads can’t decorate? Have no ability to put clothes in drawers? (Well, okay, I’ll give you that one in my case.) Don’t care about their kid heading off to college?
Oh, wait, I get it. Dad’s working weekends at his job again to pay for college, because of course mom can’t earn a living. Thanks, but I’ll stick with the 21st century.
Perhaps they have identified their target customer (women) and are marketing towards them. If women have the purchasing power, then women are who they want to talk to.
Yeah, to paraphrase Don Draper, it’s not art…it’s selling.
I think this is a progressive ad for Walmart, accurate and current. Men and fathers need not exist. Neither does the nuclear family. Why the shock? Isn’t this what feminist wanted?
Yes, feminists want there to be no dads. Um, just make sure you don’t tell my husband that. Wait, he’s also a feminist. He’s going to be so confused. I’ll ask him. Yes, he says he hopes that he doesn’t exist. Glad we’ve got that all cleared up for you “Traditional” mom. It’s a good thing you’re on to the feminist agenda.
Nope, that isn’t what feminists wanted. They wanted to have the choice to stay home or not, earn a living themselves or not, and to be equal in the workplace, etc. Like it or not, you’re a product of the feminist movement in that you have those choices.
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Walmart = damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
I dont’ know that any ad ever produced by Walmart hasn’t been criticized by someone. Its an ad for moms sending their kids to college. It doesn’t mean dads are bad, it doesn’t mean only women are sad to send their kids to college, its an ad targeting moms.
I think your reading to much into it
I don’t know if it was done on purpse, or if it was just being aimed at their demographics.. I would assume a lot of single moms shop at walmart and that it was just targeted for women instead of men.. I don’t know a lot of men that do their son or daughters college/dorm room shopping, honestly.
-Sylvia
Cigar Ratings
Ummm….It just might be because there are very responsible few men in the lives of these children and women. First of all if the child gets to college…it’s an accomplishment. And he or she has done it because the mother pushed and guided him most of the way…or should I say staid on them. And, women do most of the shopping even if there is a responsible man in the house