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Danielle Bean

Danielle Bean
Danielle Bean, a mother of eight, is editor-in-chief of Catholic Digest and Faith & Family. She is author of My Cup of Tea, Mom to Mom, Day to Day, and most recently Small Steps for Catholic Moms. Though she once struggled to separate her life and her …
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Rachel Balducci

Rachel Balducci
Rachel Balducci is married to Paul and they are the parents of five lively boys and one precious baby girl. She is the author of How Do You Tuck In A Superhero?, and is a newspaper columnist for the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia. For the past four years, she has …
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Lisa Hendey

Lisa Hendey
Lisa Hendey is the founder and editor of CatholicMom.com and the author of A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms and The Handbook for Catholic Moms. Lisa is also enjoys speaking around the country, is employed as webmaster for her parish web sites and spends time on various …
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Arwen Mosher

Arwen Mosher
Arwen Mosher lives in southeastern Michigan with her husband Bryan and their 4-year-old daughter, 2-year-old son, and twin boys born May 2011. She has a bachelor's degree in theology. She dreads laundry, craves sleep, loves to read novels and do logic puzzles, and can't live without tea. Her personal blog site …
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Rebecca Teti

Rebecca Teti
Rebecca Teti is married to Dennis and has four children (3 boys, 1 girl) who -- like yours no doubt -- are pious and kind, gorgeous, and can spin flax into gold. A Washington, DC, native, she converted to Catholicism while an undergrad at the U. Dallas, where she double-majored in …
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Robyn Lee

Robyn Lee
Robyn Lee is a 30-something, single lady, living in Connecticut in a small bungalow-style kit house built by her great uncle in the 1950s. She also conveniently lives next door to her sister, brother-in-law and six kids ... and two doors down are her parents. She received her undergraduate degree from …
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DariaSockey

DariaSockey
Daria Sockey is a freelance writer and veteran of the large family/homeschooling scene. She recently returned home from a three-year experiment in full time outside employment. (Hallelujah!) Daria authored several of the original Faith&Life Catechetical Series student texts (Ignatius Press), and is currently a Senior Writer for Faith&Family magazine. A latecomer …
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Kate Lloyd

Kate Lloyd
Kate Lloyd is a rising senior, and a political science major at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in New Hampshire. While not in school, she lives in Whitehall PA, with her mom, dad, five sisters and little brother. She needs someone to write a piece about how it's possible to …
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Lynn Wehner

Lynn Wehner
As a wife and mother, writer and speaker, Lynn Wehner challenges others to see the blessings that flow when we struggle to say "Yes" to God’s call. Control freak extraordinaire, she is adept at informing God of her brilliant plans and then wondering why the heck they never turn out that …
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"Man"ifesto

Says You: can khaki pants resurrect chivalry?

Have you seen the new “wear the pants” ad from Dockers?

A girlfriend gives the ad a big thumbs up.

She posted this, with a link to the ad in question, to her Facebook page:

Last month, in a rare outing without the kids, but still visibly pregnant, I was on a full airport shuttle between the gates and baggage claim. Women, including myself, and elderly folks were standing, some moms were sitting on the floor of the shuttle with kids, yet many men were sitting, some with their suitcases on ...the seats next to them. I texted “Chivalry is dead” to my hubby as I balanced my off-kilter self and luggage between a window and handrail. I could not think of a meaningful way to register my disappointment other than to vow to raise my boys to be genlemen. It seems like Dockers marketers have noticed the same trend. I like this campaign and am off to get the husband, who is a gentleman, some new khakis….

I imagine that is exactly what the company wants by way of reaction.

Nevertheless, predictably, there have been charges of sexism and even homosexual-bashing.

Obviously the main goal of the company is to sell its product; equally obvious is that the ad is meant to amuse.

However, in pitching a product, sales-people try to appeal to a certain audience, so I thought this remark from a Dockers Vice-President for global marketing was interesting.

In an interview with Brandweek she said “sensitivity, chivalry, ambition and decisiveness” are on her wish list for the traits of “the modern idea of a man.” The new promos hopefully will “inspire today’s men to be men,” she said.

She clearly believes there is an untapped market in “manliness” out there. It will be interesting to see if she is right.

Here is the full text.

Once upon a time, men wore the pants, and wore them well.  Women rarely had to open doors and little old ladies never crossed the street alone.  Men took charge because that’s what they did.  But somewhere along the way, the world decided it no longer needed men.  Disco by disco, latte by foamy non-fat latte, men were stripped of their khaki’s and left stranded on the road between boyhood and androgyny.  But today, there are questions our genderless society has no answers for.  The world sits idly by and cities crumble, children misbehave and those little old ladies remain on one side of the street.  For the first time since bad guys, we need heroes.  We need grown-ups.  We need men to put down the plastic fork, step away from the salad bar and untie the world from the tracks of complacency.  It’s time to get your hands dirty.  It’s time to answer the call of manhood.  It’s time to wear the pants.

Says you: does the ad appeal to you? How effective would you expect it to be? And are you, like my Facebook friend, craving a return to chivalry?


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