Call for Help from a Reporter
Posted on 25. Jul, 2010 by Brian Reid.
This has *not* been a lazy summer, but I wanted to get back on the blogging horse to see if anyone could help with this request:
Dear Brian,
I’m writing an article for Redbook magazine on couples who made the switch from the mother as primary caregiver with husband as breadwinner to the father becoming a Stay At Home Dad (with the wife as the breadwinner). The switch part is crucial: the wife must have been a stay at home mom prior to the husband assuming the SAHD role. Perhaps they made the switch because one partner lost his or her job during the recession, or perhaps it was a voluntary switch. They’ll each tell their story about how the change-up affected their lives: their marriage, their parenting, their schedule and routine, etc. We’ll hear how they both felt throughout the adjustment to their new roles, and what compromises and negotiations were necessary.The couples’ age range can be late 20s to early 40s (ideally they would be in their 30s).
Do you know of someone who fits the criteria? I’d be grateful for any assistance you might provide.
Thank you,
Denise Dowling
203-675-8339/d2dowling@msn.com
Thanks, guys.
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NYT Goes After Pampers on the Dad Thing
Posted on 23. Jun, 2010 by Brian Reid.
There is a wonderful article in today’s New York Times about Pampers newfound (i.e. in the last week) obsession with fathers. It’s a must-read if you’ve been following my sometimes-frustrated, sometimes-whimsical battle against Pampers.
In the interest of full disclosure, I get quoted at the end of the piece, but that’s not what gets me excited. Here are the nuggets worth noting:
- Remember that survey from Pampers that I noted yesterday? Turns out that while 80 percent of the dads said they pulled at least their fair share, moms saw it differently, with fewer than 1 in 3 dads splitting diaper duty 50/50 and a mere 1 in 25 doing a majority of the diapers. Funny, I don’t remember that stat in the press release. (Incidentally, I think even a third of dads doing half of the diapering is probably good, and almost certainly progress. But the gulf between the perception of dads and the perception of moms probably makes it easier for companies to just say “to heck with it” and keep their eyes on mothers alone.)
- Their media event to launch the whole Drew Brees thing included materials that said, literally, “For mom:” and used female pronouns all over the place.
- Greg Allen of daddytypes.com (far and away my favorite blogging father) is quoted delivering a nice stake in the heart to all marketers who think that they can honor fathers one day a year and ignore then the other 364: “In June, everybody talks to dads, and baby marketing is filled with how dads are unsung heroes, but the rest of year it’s just moms. All of the packaging and ad copy is all babies and moms — and their regular day-in, day-out marketing and communications is all targeted at moms.”
Does this mean that the recent love from Pamper is a mirage, a PR ploy intended to fill us all with warm feelings about dad on Father’s Day? Hard to say. As I mentioned yesterday, getting Drew Brees’ time doesn’t come cheap, so I’m hoping this means that they’re serious. But I have to admit that I’m not holding my breath. Father’s Day doesn’t roll around for another 12 months. That’s plenty of time to recede into the background again.
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Pampers: Now More Macho Than Imaginable
Posted on 22. Jun, 2010 by Brian Reid.
I have wasted a truly shameful amount of my life over the last 4 years poking fun at Pampers, which — despite billions in sales and a mammoth advertising budget — consistently produces commercials and marketing that is solely and explicitly aimed at moms.
But this weekend, that started to change. Unbeknown to me, back in February, Pampers signed up the one athlete in the United States who a) a household name, b) atop his chosen profession and c) is untainted by any sex scandals: Drew Brees. I have no idea what it costs to get Drew Brees as a spokesman, but I assume, given a), b) and, especially, c), that Pampers is opening up the wallet. This thrills me to no end. Despite having Brees locked up since February, Pamper didn’t unleash him until this weekend, when he did a media blitz and threw out the first pitch at Yankee stadium. (There was apparently an ad during the winter, but I never saw it.)
Brees is a hell of a diaper pitchman: he has one in diapers and one on the way, so he knows what he’s talking about. And if you can believe what he’s telling the press, Brees is the person doing most of the diaper duty in his house. I have no idea if this is true (I tend to assume that people who sign $60 million contracts can hire a person whose sole job is to change diapers), but it doesn’t matter. What matters is that Brees can say that he changes diapers, and he can be taken seriously saying that. I don’t want to undersell that point. Doing most of the diaper duty is now cool and the right thing to do for dads, according to the reigning Super Bowl MVP.
Pampers, in a press release, said that the era of the diaper-changing dad had already emerged:
Pampers recently commissioned a study in which dads said that they do their fair share of parenting dirty work when it comes to diaper changing. In fact, 80 percent of dads queried said that they either do most of the diaper changing in the house, or an equal share of it. The survey also revealed that 76 percent of dads said that they partake in parenting responsibilities, including diaper care, more than their own fathers did. Also, six (6) in 10 dads polled said that they should continue to change diapers on Father’s Day just to show what great fathers they are.
I have no idea what the methodology here is, but this is almost certainly wrong (again, go back and read Katherine Reynolds Lewis’ Slate piece), and probably wrong by a huge margin. 80 percent of guys doing at least half of the diapers sounds highly, highly implausible. But — again — the very fact that Procter & Gamble can push that stat out there and have people take it (semi) seriously is a sign of how far we’ve come. We may not be living in a golden age of diaper dudes, but it seems like a lot of people aspire to get there.
(Aside: last night, I saw a commercial for the very Pampers product that Brees is pitching. It was addressed directly to the viewer — “mom” — so the era of ungendered Pamper marketing is not yet here. I’m not bent out of shape. If P&G wants to go after different market segments, with some stuff aimed at dads and some at moms, God bless ‘em. Just don’t ignore us.)
(The whole line of thinking came from a tip from NYC Dad honcho Matt, who pointed me to this clip. It’s worth watching just to hear Brees talk about changing nappies. He doesn’t say “nappies,” of course. He’s an American. An American Dad. A Proud, Diaper-Changing, Touchdown-Throwing American Dad.)