Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Daddy Doesn't Know Best
This commercial disgusts me... "Clearly, Daddy is a buffoon who has no clue how his daughter should dress. Mom and Daughter will outsmart him with the help of super-duper Tide. And then Daughter will patronizingly pat Daddy on the head, as if to say, 'Oh, Daddy, I just know better than you. Don't tax your poor little brain.'" Ugh. The advertisement is offensive on so many levels. Firstly, Daughter doesn't trust her father. She figures she know better what is appropriate. Secondly, Mom undercuts father's authority. And Tide approves. (I hate pitting parents one against the other.) And lastly, the Father doesn't directly state his rules... he weasels (or sneaks) his will around. Where is his leadership? Why doesn't he stop his daughter? Why doesn't he talk to his wife about her subverting his authority? This is a family gone a muck. And Tide believes this will make me want to buy their product? Guess again.
Even advertisements have a worldview.
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Well, Daddy’s behavior is dumb in this commercial on multiple levels.
ReplyDeleteDaddy chooses to ruin Daughter’s property instead of having her repent of it. Psychologically, this means Daughter experiences the disgust of seeing the damage to her property in the same instance that she realizes that Daddy is the culprit. This will only stir up anger towards Daddy and only really teaches Daughter that she can’t wear dresses that short—not the reason why. Daddy is therefore heedless of Col. 3:21 – “Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged” – when he should have used the occasion to teach Daughter that she doesn’t have to be a skank to get somewhere in life.
But moreover, Daddy’s solution, even if it was pretty creative, is lazy. Notice that what he does following disciplinary action is to go watch TV. It’s almost as if he’s saying to himself, “I don’t *want* to take much time to deal with this one.” In doing so, he misses out on a golden opportunity. The shorts are indicative of choices outside the home that the Daughter is making or intends to make. By arranging things so that Daughter is upset away from him, Daddy doesn’t give himself the chance to take advantage of her outrage. If she’s upset, she’s probably going to lower her inhibitions, and she’ll accidentally give something away if Daddy probes in the right direction. Then Daddy can use this information in his anti-skank speech.
Why do I get the feeling that nobody here has ever participated in an Internet forum?
ReplyDeleteI have... as have several others who read this blog...
ReplyDeleteI meant no offense. It's just that I've spent a lot of time on Debate forums in the past, and I'm used to a different way of going back and forth about ideas. I think I'm used to more, shall we say, frank discussion of opinions.
ReplyDeleteNo offense taken, I assure you.
ReplyDeleteOkay. :-)
ReplyDeleteEllipses ("...") signal a thoughtful pause to me (as opposed to a comma, which signals to me a pause to separate ideas in the flow of conversation). In a live conversation, a pause in the above comment would function to allow what you are saying to sink in. That, in turn, signals to me, because of the literal content of what you wrote, that you are trying to gently tell me that what I said is based on a false assumption on my part that none of you participate in Internet forums. From this, I infer that what I have said has been taken as an insult to your honor and your friends' honor.
(I am not describing to you my actual line of thinking when reading your statement. I'm just trying to put into words why I thought you might be offended.)