Men Victimized by Low Diaper Expectations
Are men capable of dealing with a child's poop? Despite strong warnings from wise men that only women have the inborn baby poop-handling gene, Pampers is now trying to pawn off its dirty product on fathers. They're not doing well.
Andrew Adam Newman points out that, hey, most guys change diapers too, but where are the glamorous television ads celebrating that fact, complete with soft-focus shots of a loving father cradling his toddler gently (after washing all the poop off his fingers)? Sexism at its worst.
Most Pampers packaging features mothers and babies, though the brand occasionally features just a baby. Huggies is the opposite, usually featuring just babies, but occasionally featuring mothers, too. Neither brand's packages feature fathers.
Is lack of male-focused diaper advertising images the scariest problem facing American families today? Perhaps. Pampers' solution: to try to sell diapers to men by holding events featuring "celebrity fathers like the singer Joel Madden and the actor Gilles Marini." For chrissake. If that's what you think of as "male role models," we just won't change diapers at all.
