Husband's an Idiot in Kohler TV Commercial
November 1st, 2007 by Glenn Sacks, MA for Fathers & Families
This ad for Kohler bathroom fixtures is funny, but, as I've said many times before, the "man as idiot" theme got old a long, long time ago.
On the positive side, I wish my plumber looked like that...
To watch the commercial, click here or see below.
To watch some other videos of "dad as idiot" TV commercials, click here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, or here.
To see ads that the National Organization for Women considers to be offensive to women, click here.
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November 1st, 2007 at 1:16 am
Maybe the ad is offensive, but only if raise our own sensitivity to offensiveness to that of trained feminists. I think that there is one characteristic that male kind possess and females don't (maybe they actually do but definately not the feminists). It is an ability to act stupid, and to laugh off some untasteful remarks. It is what makes men more resilient, tough, and able to withstand criticism or ridicule. Many of the top-rated comics are men. And most of the people who do some stupid stunts (as in MTV's TV show-I forgot the name, but it became movies, too) are also overwhelmingly men. Yes, most of them are simply stupid acts, but sometimes some great things comes out of these stupid acts. We do not need to pretend that we are as fussy and finicky as gender-feminists.
November 1st, 2007 at 8:43 am
I do not find this ad offensive to men in terms of how the male is depicted.
However the implication that women are actually undertaking the work of plumbers is quite a distortion. Plumbing, while a well compensated profession, is one which most women avoid like the plague, just like they avoid going into sales (and in making that comment I do not consider female "pharamaceutical" sales reps calling on doctors to "influence" their prescribing behavior to be "sales").
Then again, why undertake a sometimes unpleasant job for higher pay when all a women needs to do to get those extra-income dividends is trap one sperm cell from a man working in one of those fields? Or better yet, trap one sperm cell from a plumber, and one from a highly compensated sales executive, and get the lion's share of both of their after-tax incomes.
Sick country we're living in.
November 1st, 2007 at 8:45 am
Sorenlerby;
I believe you are referring to Johnny Knoxville, who starred in the "Jackass" series. Yes, we men, for the most part do make light of ourselves, and are able to "take a joke". Which is why you see so many ads like this one and others. Actually, I'm beginning to wonder if women really do have the ability to laugh at themselves or take a joke like we do.
November 1st, 2007 at 9:25 am
"Actually, I'm beginning to wonder if women really do have the ability to laugh at themselves or take a joke like we do."
So you may cease wondering, SouthernDad, let me give you the answer. The answer is NO.
November 1st, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Everybody knows about the commercials from the fifties that feminists find so offensive depicting women as doting housewives and mothers in a harmless way. Many of the commercials depicting men of that period were just as stereotypical. It was never a “conspiracy” to deprive women of any rights. Men and women played different roles in society and the commercials are merely a reflection of that, and not an attempt to oppress women the way feminists would lead us to believe.
Today is “payback time” in the distorted minds of many feminists. Unlike the commercials of the fifties, the commercials directed at men today are derogatory in nature, not simply a harmless reflection of society’s perceived norms.
Also, let’s not overlook the fact that men seem to leave their selves open for this kind of “abuse” and in some cases encourage it.
The company that refuses to insure men is able to rationalize doing so because “weak-minded” police officers will give a female motorist a warning, instead of a ticket. Some will not even pull over a suspected female for DUI because they fear a confrontation with a distraught female. If they do pull them over they will allow them to park the car and give them a ride home. Law enforcement will bend over backwards to accommodate females and any “honest cop” will tell you that. The end result of this being that women are perceived to be better motorists but are not.
It takes a long time for me to view these commercials on my setup, so I can’t watch them all, but I bet you could find examples for every one of them as to why men play a role in their own exploitation.
What do you expect the public perception to be, of a gender that allows the courts to kidnap his children, and then faithfully pays them for doing so? Someone who lets the courts take his children, his house, and his income, while accusing him of things he has never done, and the father’s solution to the problem is to faithfully pay every nickel demanded of him under threat of incarceration.
No one has respect for this type of person. They are letting the Courts violate every Constitutional Right they have and their solution is to give them whatever they want. Doesn’t he realize that his children will be next … or doesn’t he care? In either case no one will respect a person who “chooses” to live like a salve, and in doing so, exposes the children he is supposed to care so much about to the same treachery.
No one has any respect for people who don’t demand the equal protection of our laws. People, believe it or not, would have a lot more respect for men and fathers if they just stopped trying to be so “politically correct” and demand their rights.
Kevin Merck
November 1st, 2007 at 12:50 pm
You can 'get away' with anti-male bigotry today and not vice versa. Its kind of like 'domestic violence', men are targets and women are victims. Any questions? Discussion closed.
Mike
November 1st, 2007 at 1:24 pm
One of the things that's not covered in the ad's analysis is that beyond being a complete goober to get the hot looking plumber to visit his house (assuming that the company would send the same hot plumber out to snake out a nasty sewage line), is that the guy is already married to someone who's pretty attractive, and still seems to be acting like a complete jerk. (end scene where he's dumping a bag of dog food in the commode). Yet another scene where the spouse is another saintly woman who somehow got saddled with a moron, and we get to see a bit of her daily agony.
So the ad is a double insult - men are stupid about finances and plumbing, and would cheat on their spouses. I'm sorry, even 10 minutes of a plumber's hourly rate is way more than I'd pay to see her butt crack. Dude, get your spouse a tool belt, if that's what's flipped your trigger.
Kohler can go flush themselves, as far as I'm concerned. If you want to show me how effective a toilet is, show one passing a toilet paper roll chucked in by a 3 yr old. I'll be impressed. Show me someone installing one by himself, without a plumber, or how easy it is to service when the calcified flap valve quits. Show me one that doesn't sound like 10 minutes of an F-16 kicking in the afterburner for a 3 am flush.