Most of the time when I’m watching TV, I fly through the commercials on the DVR. Despite the fact that I am a working mom of two, and more than half of the commercials are designed to reach me – the target – I find that most don’t resonate with my life at all. Until the other night. I was fast forwarding through the commercials of a show when I stopped to watch one.
The commercial was for Clorox –the laundry detergent bleach. In the past, we could expect to see a commercial featuring a young boy who spills grape juice on his shirt, and mom smiling with that ‘what am I going to do with you’ look and then taking the T-shirt, bleaching it, putting it in the laundry and waa-la – everything is perfect again.
This was not one of those commercials. Instead, the spot featured two dads, each carrying a baby in a Baby Bjorn. One of the dads also has a young boy who is trying to get his father’s attention, but the dad just keeps on talking with his friend about his new, fully loaded car (a minivan!). All of a sudden, the fathers stop talking as they get a whiff of something bad. In a classic parent moment (come on — we’ve all done it), both dads lift their babies up to smell their rears. Turns out, it was neither baby – it was the young boy who couldn’t get his dad’s attention. The spot ends with a jug of Clorox being slammed down (like a Foster’s Beer commercial) with a voiceover that says ‘For Life’s Bleachable Moments’.
What I LOVED about this commercial was that here was a laundry detergent not just targeting the classic mom, but recognizing that in today’s day in age, their target is also dads. And because the spot targeted dads, the commercial resonated with me – the target Mom.
The ironic thing is that when I was reading reviews of this ad, apparently the company’s goal was to re-introduce Clorox to a younger audience (which did work); however, there was no discussion about gender and the modern role of the father. To me, this was the icing on the cake – are we finally at a point in time where it is considered normal to target men with products that traditionally were only marketed to women? Because if we are, then the Madison Ave. crew has also finally figured out a way to reach me.
I love your thoughts on targeting Mr. Mom. I feel like there is also a rise in Ms. Dad–the woman who’s sweating 401K’s and kids’ tuition savings, looking under the hood of a car to figure out what’s wrong, breaking out the toolkit when the faucet breaks…
The concept of Mom and Dad is shifting over to 2 people who are simply, Parents.
This is great, Larissa, and very reassuring re) the lack of gender in the discussion. I can’t wait to have my own Mr. Dad. I mean, Mr. Mom. Perhaps then that makes me Mrs. Dad. Fun!
A new kind of dad, a new kind of husband, and the same Clorox! Thanks for the insights Larissa, this is great advertising!
Great post and sounds like an interesting twist on the conventional mom ad. This sounds like what it’s going to be like for me…at least I hope!