I gotta say, I don't know where to start with this McDonald's commercial.
First off, they got rid of the damn pies in several key European countries, so no French, Dutch, or German dad in his right mind would ever bring home--
But you know what, that misses the larger point. It's not like I'm reading the boardbook edition of Super-Size Me to the kid every night. While it's true that she chooses tofu 10 times out of 10 now, the kid's first meat was a Chicken McNugget.
And though the commercial is meant to be a Small World, feel-good celebration, deep down, the message is clear: dads don't cook. Clear and outdated and insulting. And frankly, ungrateful.
So fire off your thoughts to McDonald's management and decide for yourselves what shape a boycot should take. As for me, I'll be cutting out my drive-thru dessert runs completely on at least half of my latenight trips home from the gym. At least I will as soon as cherry pie season ends.
McDonald's "Dad is making dinner" ad [youtube via dt reader dana]
Contact US: McDonald's USA Marketing & Promotions [mcdonalds.com]
My husband does all the cooking. In fact all the Dads I know cook. MY dad cooked and god knows that was 25 years ago. MickeyDs. Seriously. If anyone is getting home late and tired it's me and I'm all for ordering Tara Thai.
emailed mcd's last night, still waiting on a response...
I don't know. I am a dad and do pretty much all (99.99% of the time) the cooking at home. That said, I am not offended at all by this commercial. It is kind of cute and funny.
PS: My daughter eats McD's chicken nuggets once in a while.
I don't know - it was kind of cute. My dad is a great cook but he still took my sister and I out to McD's or pizza every thursday night. I get your point, though. I get offended everytime I see that Clorox commercial with the little boys playing in the mud and the mother and daughter happily doing all the laundry.
[my wife thought the commercial was really cute, too. exact words. This thing is clearly targeting women who wonder why their calls to dinner don't get nearly the same enthusiastic response. The obvious solution is for both moms and dads to serve nothing but Lucky Charms. -ed.]
W.
T.
F.
???!!!
I mean, are you frakkin' kidding me? Another reason to avoid that place--Sat. morning, we went thru the drive-thru on the way out of town, The Pumpkin has a branded milkjug and points at Ronald and goes, "Who's that, Daddy?" I say, "That's just a clown, honey." Then she smiles and says, "McDonald." The hell?! Freakin' daycare...
I don't find it terribly offensive. I cook for our son all the time. What's bothersome is that we're slowly equating take-out with "making" dinner. Reminds me of the KFC commercial where a teenage boy is having "sit-down ant the table family dinner" at a friends house and the meal is a bucket of fried chicken.
I too am a father who cooks a majority of the meals in my house. I cook well and try to add variety to our diets.
Although I thought I might have been over-reacting, this commercial has been stuck in my craw since last night. So I'm happy to see that I'm not loosing my mind when I found it so offensive. Not only did it portray fathers as having the inability, lack of skill or unwillingness to take responsiblity for dinner, but that when we do our choice would an unhealthy alternative like McDonalds.
I won't lie to you and say that we don't have a burger from McDonalds every now and again. I can assure you that it certainly will be a long time before I consider it again, if ever.
James, I couldn't agree with you more.
I am the mom of a teenaged boy who told me he found the ad sexist.
And it is.
The subtle (or not) message is that dads seek the easy way out, and either can't or won't cook.
I have tried to raise my kid so that he didn't perpetuate the old sterotypical ways of the past. But when the media keeps presenting it to us that way, well, I get pissed!
How can we create change? We can, it's just ... hard!