Men are LOOSERS!!

At least that's what advertising exec's want you to believe. We're obviously stupid, insipid and the duller of the tools in the shed - or at least, that's the way advertising companies use the male figure. What used to be "bimbo's and rambo's" is now "bimbo's and Jethro" (a Beverly Hillbilly's reference there).

How about the Verizon commerical that is widely played now in the North East U.S. It shows a relatively overweight dad giving the gift of Verizon phones to his daughters (with Mom in the background) and the daughters (& Mom) take the phones which supposedly saves the family money. Quickly they exit dismissing dad like he's a leper, leaving the curly hair male figure puzzled with a stupid look on his face.

My next one is again in the North East, which is for Patriot Cable - where a tight shot of Mom & Dad watching their childs birthday party of kids. Mom says, "So when's the Clown going to be here?" Dad suddenly gets scared as he OBVIOUSLY forgot about the clown - and he uses the quick cable web access to order a clown for the party. Then the horse was OBVIOUSLY forgotten as well... and again, Dad insipidly forgot to order the horse for horsey rides...

While women have their own beefs with advertising (scantily clad women, using them as sex objects to hawk beer, sports, whatever) I'm not making a comparison. And if I WERE to make a comparison, I'd say I'd much rather be a sex object used to sell beer than a fat idiot who can barely dress himself.



Is it funny? The dumb dad like Ray Romano? Kinda dim witted, not too bright and doesn't have a very good job but good hearted in a stupid kinda way. Women obviously are the direct opposite. Smart, quick witted and remembering everything. Good with money, handles the kids, job and cooks, cleans, wipes up the kids puke, runs them to sports events, is involved in the school board AND runs the church finances while dad is lucky to remember where the car keys are and may STILL get lost going to work. The problem is everyone, including men have accepted this portrayal. It's considered politically correct according to this article.

These stereotypes are just as bad as the female stereotypes and much less accurate. A somewhat outdated article can be found here regarding these roles. But I'd propose men's roles as the "DUFUS" has expanded since then and are now bleeding into sit coms, reality TV shows, plays and movies. This isn't new - stereotypes are probably the easiest things to cling to for unimaginative ad exec's who need put something out for a customer.

Is it that men want to be misunderstood and underestimated? We don't mind being a jackass; the butt of jokes so to speak? Is it simply a revolt against the "MAN"; white middle aged executives who are paunchy and poxed with rich model wives sitting around the pool on a cell phone with Wall Street yelling "SELL TEN THOUSAND OF MICROSOFT!!!".

If represented that executive in a commercial would be pictured sitting behind his desk, bored, playing with a pencil. He's 30ish, a little frumpy with a blank pasty face, a little jumpy and definately a dull "tool". This isn't simply a U.S. issue either. Another article from the U.K. also shows men are none too swift.

So, given the choice would you rather be:

A: Handsome/Beautiful and thought of only for your body

OR

B: An insipid idiot, frumpy, jumpy and dull

I'm still thinking women who are thought of as a "piece of meat" in advertising are getting the better deal here.