Saw this just now and followed the link. It’s related to a recent car commercial where a father and son are tossing a baseball together. The boy has horribly throwing form and the father is being patient and encouraging, only to reveal that he has worse throwing form than his son. So they sit there together tossing it back and forth next to this car.
To be honest, until I read the above links, I had no idea it was for a Passat.
I was actually talking about this commercial with the Wife and a friend yesterday. They both had theories about what the point of the commercial was- linking to the fact that it was a rugged car and people could comfortably throw a baseball next to it with horrible form.
Personally, I think it’s one of the genre of commercials where something amusing happens but you can’t for the life of you remember what the commercial was for. There are tons of these out there with clever little punch-liney setups, but don’t really have anything to do with product being sold. So, while the marketing firm gets an ‘A’ for creating a memorable TV moment, they get an ‘F’ for creating a useless ad- because no one can remember what the heck they’re selling after it’s over.
As for the stereotyping of Dads, well, see my previous post for whether or not we can be useful. For that matter, peruse the bread category or the woodworking category to get a feel for my personal answer. I also remember my own Father’s handiness while we were growing up- it’s the stuff of legend around our family. Not that everything went like clockwork, but “buffoon” is not a word you’d use to describe my Dad. I’ll let my kids judge me when the time comes.
More generally, to be honest, this sort of stuff rarely bothers me and when it does it’s more a fatigue of seeing the same silliness over and over. Everybody Loves Raymond was funny for about 2 episodes for me, then it was tedious, then it was uninteresting. I reckon that show made it’s living on the “Dad as buffoon” theme.
There’s also something a little unseemly about getting all upset about how Hollywood portrays Dads. I mean, do I need Hollywood to reaffirm the fact that I’m not a doofus? Hardly, and I can’t imagine the day will ever come that it does concern me. They need their story material, and apparently there’s a niche for this kind of thing. I think Dads do themselves more good by simply laughing it off, rather than playing an identity politics game.
4 replies on “Can Dads Do Anything Right”
Wouldn’t describe me as a plumber either….hate leaks!
I still remember your line about plumbers: “There are two kinds of people on this world, fools and plumbers.” I try to remember that when a problem is much more than a drip.
Don’t forget about electricians…
My take on that commercial is it is about reliability and the idea that the father made the right choice and he will “at least” be able to pass a reliable car, or car brand, down to his son…because he clearly is not going to get him a pitching scholarship.
I think the mistake you make, or maybe it is the mistake I am making the other way around, is that you think the majority of people are intelligent and capable. My experience tells me otherwise and I actually strongly believe that the vast majority of our country, and probably the world, is comprised of people that are some combination of dependent, lazy, and ignorant (as a window to my mind, I consider “ignorant” to describe people that do not know they are dumb, shortsighted, racist, crazy…etc). This does not necessarily mean they are bad people, although that can happen too, it just serves to categorize the masses and make a blanket statement to help with figuring out this commercial.
After that glowingly optimistic comment, I can admit that I fall into these categories from time to time, and maybe making the comment alone puts me in one of them. I just hope to help you see how well viewed your website is, because if you have a following, I would expect them to tell me where I can stick my head.
But I will stand by it, and I think that society as a whole will continue to serve me up plenty of examples to justify my opinion. So, in theory, if you are right about that car commercial and the concept of the “dad as a buffoon” is what they are going for, and I am right about society in general…they are pretty much smacking their demographic broadside.
Personally, I like the Subaru commercial where two young boys are thoroughly enjoying the joint effort of washing their dad’s car; soap suds, water and enthusiasm for their task abounds – despite the fact that the windows and sun roof are opened and the boys are liberally soaping up the interior of the vehicle as well as the outside …. including electrical components which might be compromised by their actions. The dad comes upon the scene and immediately realizes the situation is based on a genuine desire to do a thorough job of cleaning the car. Rather than despair at the damage caused, he simply grabs a wet sponge and points out a spot that was missed … the moment is not ruined by anger or criticism; the boys are happy, and the car, apparently survives …. AND, I remembered all the details of the commercial because it presented an engaging story that stressed something more important than a car – and in the process, I remembered the brand ….. something that doesn’t usually happen with the inane commercials that populate our media … and bombard our subconscious with subliminal messages …. no bad images, hidden agenda, and no social commentary on ineptitude … just an endearing, enduring image of a parent who knew what was important !