Commercials and Gender Roles

If we were to go back to the 1950s we would find product ads like the one above. At this time, of course, women were only seen as housewives and hardly worked outside of the home. Having a home, husband and kids were the ideal life. Now, looking at this ad and societal norms from a 2016 lens, it's quite offensive and somewhat comical. Women are now seen as a force to be reckoned with, though I could argue we have always been. But, the whole idea of a housewife and the "nuclear family" is still being represented in today's ads whether we realize it or not. And sadly those companies that do try to break stereotypes are criticized. Many companies seem to forget that our society is made up of so many different people which then come to have different families, and most likely will not fit the classic idea of a "nuclear family".

For example, Clorox, one of the biggest cleaning product brands, released a commercial to market their wipes but under that it was portraying classic gender roles. The ad shows a woman coming home to find her husband struggling to control their toddler on top of the kitchen counter, with a huge mess and a failed cooking attempt in the background. The wife who is agitated then uses the Clorox wipes to clean the mess up after her husband and child. This commercial implicitly states that men are not capable of taking care of a child or cooking when in fact men are extremely capable of taking care of a child and cooking. I know that my dad was extremely capable of taking care of me while my mom was at work and it looked nothing like the commercial. The wife is then portrayed as the only capable person in the relationship and is the only one who is able to clean the house.  

However, there are companies who are putting out commercials that are going against classic gender roles. Campbell's soup company recently released a commercial that shows a gay couple feeding their son soup while pretending to be Darth Vader. The dads are showing are loving parents who are both taking care of their son which is the opposite of what Clorox implied. Campbell's was praised and also criticized for putting a gay couple in their ad. On one hand, people were happy that a realistic family and not just a heterosexual couple was being portrayed. On the other, according to Philly Voice "many commenters on both Facebook and Youtube attacked the company, vowing to ditch the brand for supporting homosexuality". It is important for different families to be seen on television because that may help people become more open minded about accepting different types of families and sexual orientations. 

In the 21st century, media should show what real families and relationships look like not what they think it should look like. There should be more commercials showing working moms with a stay at home dad or lesbian and gay couples and their kids. Granted, those who choose to do this will most likely be criticized but hopefully, that will allow the future of ad campaigns to be realistic and Americans to become more open minded about the diversity of our country.