3 years, 6 months.

Dear Jack,

I remember when I first started The Dadabase three years ago on May 23, 2011, one of my main agendas was to positively rebrand fatherhood in media. I was very forthright about it in my very first Dadabase post, “Welcome To The Dadabase“:

“I admit that much of my inspiration as a daddy blogger is to rebrand fatherhood as the glorious thing that it is.  I’m tired of dads being represented by goofy schlubs who don’t remember their wedding anniversary until the last minute and who don’t know how to behave in public without making a mess of something.”

Since May 2011, I have been publically documenting when companies get “dad ads” right (like Robinsons) and when they get them wrong (like Robitussin).

If part of my role in media as a daddy blogger has been to help make it taboo for companies to bash dads and continue portraying them as bumbling idiots, then I feel my job is about done by now.

Just look at this new ad by Dove, which is currently going viral:

The ad proclaims, “For all the times they’ve answered our call… Isn’t it time we celebrate Dads?”

I feel like Dove has finally hammered the final nail in the coffin as far as putting to death this idea that dads are unnecessary or useless, as media has had a habit of portraying things for the past several decades.

For dads, it has always come down to respect.

Plus, I feel that things are balancing out now to where companies realize they literally can’t afford to bash dads like they use to.

History has now shown us that a diaper company who releases an insulting dad ad must expect major social media backlash. The Huggies backlash of 2012 will forever serve as bookmark in the hard lesson of dad-bashing advertising.

It’s so easy these days for anyone to be labelled a bigot or a racist on Twitter; because after all, it makes news headlines now when it even appears someone might possibly say something out of context that could slightly hint at them being either of those things. (See Stephen Colbert.)

Similarly, there is now an army of very involved dads who won’t hesitate to “Twitter shame” the company if tcompanies dare make the boneheaded move to portray a dad as a bonehead.

Like me, many of these dads immediately publish a blog post about it to spread the word that “so-and-so company” hasn’t gotten the memo than in 2014, you can’t get away with that stuff anymore.

(See ABC’s 20/20 “D Is For Dad And Dumb” segment.)

I think for the companies who are brave (and creative) enough to do a positive dad ad, it will be noticed. Dove is currently serving as the perfect example.

So after 3 years of covering this topic, I feel it’s coming to a resolve. That’s pretty cool. It might be time for me to find a new agenda to focus on…

 

Love,

Daddy