The New Ford Divorced Dad Ad (Excerpted from 9/13 E-Newsletter)
The other campaign many readers have urged me to launch is against a new Ford commercial. We've done campaigns against TV commercials before--in 2004 our Campaign Against Anti-Father Verizon Commercial was covered by over 300 media outlets, including CNN, Fox News, ABC, NBC, CBS and several hundred newspapers. The commercial, which can be viewed here, portrayed an idiot father bumbling to try to help his daughter with her homework as his wife barked at him to "go wash the dog." A few weeks after our campaign was launched Verizon informed us that the ad would no longer be aired. I explained my reasons for doing the campaign in my column Why I Launched the Campaign Against Verizon's Anti-Father Ad (Pasadena Star-News & Affiliated Papers, 11/18/04).
The new Ford ad, which can be seen here, is described by Slate as follows:
"A family drives through some gorgeous hills and along a pretty coastline, making picturesque stops at a roadside farm stand and a beach. 'The Ford Freestyle crossover,' says the voiceover. 'More than 500 miles on a tank of gas.' Then the SUV pulls to a stop in front of a housing complex, where the dad gets out with his luggage. 'Thanks for inviting me this weekend,' he says to the mom. He hugs his kids, they say their goodbyes ('See you next week'), and the SUV drives off...
"The ad begins with ho-hum familiarity. The stock shots of the smiling family; the artfully filmed vehicle; the announcer's cheerful pitch about fuel efficiency. We're waiting for the lease/buy figures to pop up on screen when...BAM! With no warning, we find ourselves in the grip of a stern domestic drama. The music goes quiet. Dad gazes wistfully at mom, thanking her for this time with his kids. Mom looks back with wet eyes, barely able to muster a reply. The camera pulls out and we see Dad standing alone, with his sad little duffel bag, in front of what one reader termed the 'Recent Divorce Condo Complex.'"
One reader wrote "The bottom line is that it makes the fact that Dad gets the kids every other weekend OK and he should be grateful for anything else that he gets that is parceled out according to the mother's wishes. It treats as normal the fact that the father is a second class parent."
Perhaps, but I can't help but wonder how Ford could have made a divorced dad commercial without angering many in the fathers' rights movement.
If the ad had portrayed a shared parenting arrangement instead of an every other weekend dad, our side would complain that Ford is papering over the oppression of divorced dads by pretending that shared parenting is standard.
If Ford had made a commercial where it was the mother who was left behind, our side would be angry because it shows a victimized woman when, in this context, it's usually men who are victimized.
If the dad hadn't appeared cheerful and "grateful," our side would say that Ford is portraying divorced dads as angry, bitter men.
Some are angered that dad was dropped off in front of the sad 'Recent Divorce Condo Complex,' but if he had been dropped off at a big house then we'd accuse Ford of perpetuating the rich divorced dad/Porsche/trophy wife stereotype.
I can't see how Ford could have approached this much better than they did. And when television doesn't show divorced dads or pretends they don't exist, we complain that our culture makes divorced dads invisible.
My conclusion? I'm not crazy about the commercial, but I don't see it as something that merits launching a protest.
One of my readers sent me an interesting letter about the ad:
"Personally, I thought the ad was bold and innovative. It portrays a post-divorce husband and wife who are working together to provide a normal life for their children.
"Ford's ad suggests that divorce, while difficult for all concerned, doesn't need to mean an end to co-parenting. By his presence, the ad suggests that although divorced, he is still important enough in his kids lives for his ex-wife to overcome whatever rancor she no doubt felt towards him, and invite him along. You want shared-parenting? Sometimes that's what shared-parenting looks like.
"She COULD have invited 'the new daddy,' you know..."
He makes some good points.
