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by DK Badenhorst (@BrandCultureSA) Fatherhood has not been a dominant theme in advertising until relatively recently. Let’s take a look at some recent ads featuring dads from CCTV, Audi, Dove, Nissan and Toyota, and what they have to say about fatherhood.

Pop culture has had its fair share of fathers (Danny Tanner, Cliff Huxtable, Tim Taylor, et.) but no pop-culture dad has stood out as much as Red Foreman. He was old-fashioned and relied upon phrases such as “dumbass” and “foot up your ass” to communicate general life values to his son.

The later success of the book “Shit My Dad Says” was also built on a character with a very similar attitude. But this dad lacked the emotionally charged world that took off in the late ’90s. Feelings mattered. To Red (and father-figure Tony Soprano), feelings didn’t matter much.

CCTV

In 2013, a CCTV ad called Takeaway was the first ad I’ve seen in this new wave of ads that seem to be describing a new fatherhood. Takeaway was still bit behind the curve in that it described the fallen hero, not the dad in his heyday. For all we know, this was an Asian Red Foreman. But in the commercial he is harmless and innocent — childlike.

I had a grandparent live with me in my childhood home and I can testify to the ultimately degenerative power of dementia — the slow detachment from reality that just gains momentum.

The commercial uses an excellent effect (the ink blotches) to dramatise dementia but leaves you choking when the dad, through all the ink and the mess, remembers his son’s favourite food.

This announced the start to a pattern that has continued. Fathers are tough but they love. Fatherly love looks different.

Audi

In the same year, Audi’s Prom commercial showed us a dad that provides the platform where you can take your own risks, rather than hand-holding you through tough times. In this Audi commercial, the mother tries to make the boy feel better about having no date while the dad simply throws him the key to a RS6.

It’s a practical solution from a practical relationship. This pragmatism is the theme in all the commercials. Dove’s dad is a gentler man (closer to the ’90s dad) but lives to solve problems, Nissan’s dad works to provide and Audi’s dad is a somewhat mischievous problem-solver. (The RS6 continued this love-at-a-distance theme, going with My Dad is an Alien).

In 2015, both Dove and Nissan launched some excellent dad ads for this year’s Super Bowl.

Dove

Dove’s #RealStrength commercial has evolved from Takeaway to move the generosity away from degenerative mental disease into everyday situations. In the Dove commercial, dads are in the background; they are, to an extent, faceless; and they exist as support to the life of the de facto protagonist — the child.

This is a heartfelt piece of communication that is genuinely ruined by the robotic voice at the end, asking dads to tell us how they care. It’s as if the people who made the ad didn’t make the tagline. Didn’t you just see the ad?

Dads are not limelight guys; they kind of shut up and get stuff done. What is also interesting is that dads are the last line of defense; they are the seal team 6 of the family. When you’re sad, you call for mom; when things go off the rails, you call dad.

Bill Burr

American comedian, actor and writer, Bill Burr, highlights this when he recalls a passenger on a flight who expressed some very real fear through high-pitched screaming. Burr only wishes he could be inappropriate enough to tell the passenger to ‘push it down, deny his feelings and act like you’ve got answers, do some man sh*t’.

There’s a great deal of satire involved here and, if you feel you should defend men’s ability to have feelings, you should find out more about Burr. But the sentiment stands — men are doers.

Nissan

Nissan offers us an interesting modern take on what is essentially an old stereotype (falling in well with the resurgence of old-fashioned values).

Unlike Dove, it follows a single narrative that is set to Harry Chapin’s Cats in the Cradle. It’s a pragmatic dad story. A father that works hard to provide but, unlike the narrative of the absent father, the Nissan ad brings to life the old-fashioned notion that hard work required some sacrifices.

What is interesting is the absolute lack of resentment for the father. Much like Chapin’s character, our son in the Nissan commercial admires his dad from a distance and appreciates him when he is close.

Toyota

Toyota leaned into emotional territory with its My Bold Dad commercials. The Toyota commercial is set to the father taking his daughter to enroll for military duty. While the actual journey is short, it is punctuated by memories that illustrates Toyota’s vision of what fatherhood means. It tells the story of a steadfast character who does not tackle the emotional fallout of a problem but who rather tackles the issue head on. It’s much closer to Dove in that the father is an accessible character (unlike Nissan’s racecar driver).

For Father’s Day, Toyota took the language of social justice warriors and applied it to the benefit of an unlikely character: the old-fashioned dad. People on street were questioned about their fathers and, as it turned out, people don’t do much for Father’s Day.

Father’s Day

The ad informs us that the US spends US$7bn less on dads than on moms for their special day. What is great is that there is not yet a great cause running alongside this observation; there is no movement for equal spending. It’s simply a curious observation, which Toyota used to show why it is prompting people to call their dads.

And, while the dads don’t say much, it is an interesting thing to watch and listen to. It’s heartwarming when someone tells his or her dad that he’s great, heartwarming in a way that telling your mom isn’t.

At this point I feel it’s important to highlight that moms are great and that the notion of calling your mom is amazing and needed, but it’s also very normal. Fatherhood in pop culture is an interesting idea — especially successful fatherhood. Calling your dad to say “I love you” is not such a dominant cultural norm; the mainstream definition of that narrative simply does not request it.

Toyota Japan

Toyota Japan took a slightly different look in order to show how dads care and how what they see is a different to what you might have experienced. Despite being a localised piece of communication, I believe the ad rings true to a global audience.

In the first half of the commercial, it shows life through the eyes of the father and in the second through the life of the daughter. I’m sure there are many nuances that go missing in translation (exactly what is the weight of the wedding scene and what does it mean for a man to cry in the local culture?) but the waves of acceptance and annoyance from child to father that ebb and flow over time is not a local phenomenon.

The commercial echoes the sentiment of the earlier examples in that the father is a provider before he is anything else. The spot is littered with scenes of a dad who does what is best for his child, despite her not wanting him to or when she’s a bit annoyed. And never is he discouraged (or encouraged to negotiate with her): “I will take care, whether you like it or not”.

The overall tone of the commercial remains warm and heartfelt, as there are many endearing moments and simply because the dynamic is so true.

An interesting shift in advertising

It’s an interesting shift in advertising. Dads have traditionally been the goofs who embarrass us when they come into our lives. Moms are often edgy and clued-up; they live close to the children. Dads are often at arm’s length, making it difficult to really know what they know and what they are up to. In the Toyota commercial, one daughter admits that she doesn’t really know what her dad wants in his heart of hearts.

What is fantastic about all the commercials is that it doesn’t play motherhood against fatherhood — it stretches our emotion; it doesn’t transfer them.

A commercial that I still consider the iconic motherhood commercial is the P&G “Thank you, mom” commercial.

P&G

It was made for the Olympic Games and tells the stories of mothers who live for their children’s success. Much like fathers, they live behind the scenes; they are the power behind the success. None of the dad commercials take away from that. And if P&G made this ad today, it would not take away from fatherhood. We are better off for both commercials.

We live in a time where there are a tremendous amount of lines in the sand and sometimes it would seem people take offense, not because their case was wronged but simply because their case was not explicitly argued. It harms a cause.

Feminism, race-equality, LGBT and any other cause are damaged by what Matt Dillahunty calls “people agreeing with me for the wrong reasons”. That is to say, people who simply have a dumb idea that chanced upon a similar conclusion, or (if I can be so bold to interpret) people who have an axe to grind with men can hop on the feminism bandwagon and make it anti-men. Or people who have an issue with religion can leverage the moral high ground of LGBT movements to attack religion.

Pro dad-values

The father commercials are not anti-anything. They are simply pro dad-values, and the world is better off, thanks to these. There is no reason that a future of these commercials will not feature same-sex parents of any gender bringing fatherly values to life. It is a way of seeing the world — a role to fill and a duty to show up for.

In a time where we’re facing what is called the failure of multiculturalism, it’s important to start seeing social identities for what they are, instead of for what they are against. Dads are a great start. It’s easy to see what they are for. They are for their families, pathologically so. Unity and wellbeing.

And it’s easy to see and agree with what they are against: stuff that harms their family — things that destroys unity and wellbeing. It’s simple, but it also provides us a framework for starting to create less politicised models of other social identities.

Celebrate it in small ways

Brands cannot teach fatherhood. That is a wag-the-dog situation. But brands can celebrate it in small ways — lift out and amplify the best of fatherhood in the hope that some of these values will stick and grow not only to the end of better families, but maybe also a better society as a whole.

 

DK Badenhorst

 

DK Badenhorst (@BrandCultureSA) is a cultural insight and semiotics consultant who brings cultural context and long-term trend insights to brand communication. He contributes the monthly “Brand Culture” column, exploring the value and meaning interaction between brands and society, to MarkLives.com.

 

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