"Man"ifesto
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Reviews on Monday, December 21, 2009 12:00 PM
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?
Print Blog
Email a FriendPost a Comment
By submitting this form, you give Faith And Family Magazine permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.
