Dumb & Dumber: Canadian TV Ads Make Men Look Bad

Cockburn: Dumb and Dumber TV

By LYN COCKBURN
Winnipeg Sun
August 10

Have you seen the commercial about a woman who walks into a Rona building supply store with "homestressidous" syndrome?

Rona officials say it's meant to be humorous, But the spot is no joke to Peter Regan, 47, a Calgary single father.

In the commercial, a female clerk sympathizes with the woman by suggesting her husband doesn't help around the house. The woman agrees and the clerk says: "That's OK. They (husbands) are all like that."

That's when Regan complained to Advertising Standards Canada, saying the commercial was offensive and part of a pattern of TV shows and commercials that portray men as losers.

"This portrayal of men as knuckle-dragging Neanderthals or habitual, lazy drunkards robs our boys and families of role models," said Regan, father of a 10-year-old son.

ASC agreed and has asked Rona to pull the ad, but this action is not binding. It will be interesting to see if the company, which originally told Regan the ad is meant as a joke, will comply.

They'd better. I'm in total agreement with Regan.

I wonder if he's seen the Sobeys ad in which a huge, tall man with Neanderthal cheekbones and his small pleasant wife are grocery shopping in a non-Sobeys supermarket. Pleasant little wife says: "We're lost, honey." Monster hubby says superciliously: "No we're not. GPS baby." The GPS tells them to turn right at aisle 176. "There, see," says supercilious jerk, twitching his massive shoulders. They look up and see they are at aisle 3. Stupid husband starts calling out for help. The list is endless. Regan is right, there are far too many TV commercials which depict men as dumb sods with no sense of style, humour, decorum or timing. And the sooner we rid our TVs of them, the fewer we'll have in real life.

But I do have one concern and that is: Who will then be left on TV to take care of all the dumb women in commercials?

For example, there's that woman playing tennis in high heels because she's put gel inserts in her stilettos - since of course, she wants to attract a man.

Ha! Not likely if all the stupid men get taken off TV. What Canadian man wants a woman who thinks goop in her shoes will get him going?

Then there're all those women who do nothing but dust in commercials.

They think dusting, they talk dusting, they dream dusting. One suspects they're all virgins. And no wonder. Even inconsiderate men like those referred to in the Rona ad don't want to team up with women who think dusting is a profession.

And what about the ads in which women are forever blathering on about cleaning the shower or getting rid of the germs in the toilet bowl?

These ads are particularly obnoxious because they don't just depict women as semi-servants, they diss men as well. Do Canadian men not want their children to be healthy and germ- free? Of course they do.

But according to the bathroom cleanser people, no Canadian dad has ever cleaned a toilet - at least I've never seen one do so on my TV.

Let's be real here. It's only the dumb guys in those dumb ads who will go after these dumb women whose sole purpose in life is to dust and clean toilet bowls.

Aren't there any women in TV ads for all those nice, bright, humorous men whom Peter Regan wants to see in commercials?

As far as I can tell, there is but one. She's a driver in the Grey Power car insurance ads, the purpose of which is to tell us that if you're over 50 with a good driving record, you can pay tons less for coverage.