"Mama keeps colors fresh and bright" - A rant on advertising by yours truly

[MichaelD]

[RANT] Okay, I've seen this TV commercial for the umpteenth time, and I'm pissed off. :| I swear to you, AT, this has been building for a looooong time. I'm actually in a good mood. I had a wonderful weekend with my son, I saw my GF today and life is good. However, I need to get this off my chest. It's about this Clorox commercial:

I'm sure you've seen it; it's a commercial for Clorox II(tm) bleach.

It shows a stereotypically fertile-looking young woman, hanging freshly-washed, "Old Navy" (tm) looking clothing on a clothesline in the backyard, while hordes of stereotypically screaming children scamper around at her feet.

The accompanying music is a Reggae-sounding tune, sung by a West Indies-sounding man...the verbage:

Mama keeps clothes, fresh and bright. Mama cleans the laundry, cleans it just right. Mama cleans the clothes, knows what to do. Mama cleans the clothes with Clorox Two.

What the hell is my problem? Glad you asked. I ask you this simple question: Do MEN not do laundry? WTF is going on here? I just had a GREAT weekend with my son. Me and my son. Me and my son. Me and my son. I am MALE. I did FOUR loads of laundry b/t Friday night and Sunday night. I got the clothes "fresh and bright" too; how come they don't make a commercial showing a tired-looking single Dad that worked a 90-hour week to have some money to spend on his son/daughter? Huh? :|

Seriously, before you flip me off, think about it. In this day and age of Divorce, Single-parent households and "Mister Moms" how come they don't show commercials of DADS doing the "womanly things" like laundry?

I know that ALL single men do laundry....even the most pigly of men will agree; you can only spray cologne on a pair of drawers "just so many times to cover the stench" before they become "gamey." <---Now, that's not me....that's why I refuse to have male roommates. Anyway, WHY?

I mean, it's not a huge "life-ending" dealie, or anything like that, but it obviously does bother the crap out of me, else I wouldn't be wasting valueable keystrokes typing this, now would I ? ;p

Does any other male out there feel this way? I realize that the core readership of AT falls into the 16-to-22 demographic, but I know there are some single Dads out there.

I feel slighted. I feel that this is just another nail in The Single Father Coffin that society has politely deemed feasable to shove into my skull.

Surely, this must piss off someone else besides myself?

 

[fatbaby]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
[RANT] Okay, I've seen this TV commercial for the umpteenth time, and I'm pissed off. :| I swear to you, AT, this has been building for a looooong time. I'm actually in a good mood. I had a wonderful weekend with my son, I saw my GF today and life is good. However, I need to get this off my chest. It's about this Clorox commercial:

I'm sure you've seen it; it's a commercial for Clorox II(tm) bleach.

It shows a stereotypically fertile-looking young woman, hanging freshly-washed, "Old Navy" (tm) looking clothing on a clothesline in the backyard, while hordes of stereotypically screaming children scamper around at her feet.

The accompanying music is a Reggae-sounding tune, sung by a West Indies-sounding man...the verbage:

Mama keeps clothes, fresh and bright. Mama cleans the laundry, cleans it just right. Mama cleans the clothes, knows what to do. Mama cleans the clothes with Clorox Two.

What the hell is my problem? Glad you asked. I ask you this simple question: Do MEN not do laundry? WTF is going on here? I just had a GREAT weekend with my son. Me and my son. Me and my son. Me and my son. I am MALE. I did FOUR loads of laundry b/t Friday night and Sunday night. I got the clothes "fresh and bright" too; how come they don't make a commercial showing a tired-looking single Dad that worked a 90-hour week to have some money to spend on his son/daughter? Huh? :|

Seriously, before you flip me off, think about it. In this day and age of Divorce, Single-parent households and "Mister Moms" how come they don't show commercials of DADS doing the "womanly things" like laundry?

I know that ALL single men do laundry....even the most pigly of men will agree; you can only spray cologne on a pair of drawers "just so many times to cover the stench" before they become "gamey." <---Now, that's not me....that's why I refuse to have male roommates. Anyway, WHY?

I mean, it's not a huge "life-ending" dealie, or anything like that, but it obviously does bother the crap out of me, else I wouldn't be wasting valueable keystrokes typing this, now would I ? ;p

Does any other male out there feel this way? I realize that the core readership of AT falls into the 16-to-22 demographic, but I know there are some single Dads out there.

I feel slighted. I feel that this is just another nail in The Single Father Coffin that society has politely deemed feasable to shove into my skull.

Surely, this must piss off someone else besides myself?

Getting pissed off by a detergent commercial? They decided that a woman would be better in that commercial than men, i don't know why, but they did, and theres nothing you can do to change it!

 

[TheOmegaCode]

I try to watch TV as little as possible, and when I do Andromeda, Stargate SG-1, and Enterprise don't seem to show that commercial... Wait a minute! Nerds to laundry too!!!!

 

[amdskip]

I'm gonna have to do my own laundry in the dorms next year. It's no biggie because I do help my mom now with the laundry.

 

[MichaelD]

Hi Fatbaby,

I know; they chose a woman, because "only women do laundry, especially do laundry for kids' clothes." What bullcrap!!!!!! I happen to know another guy that's in the same boat as I, but he has TWO kids. Granted, they are older than my son, but he does like 3 loads of laudry a DAY b/c his boys play soccer and baseball. He hates the commercial too. :|

 

[UglyCasanova]

Because all men are fat lazy wife beating theifs.

 

[loup garou]

It's called targetted advertising. Where have you been for the past 20 years?

 

[fatbaby]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Hi Fatbaby,

I know; they chose a woman, because "only women do laundry, especially do laundry for kids' clothes." What bullcrap!!!!!! I happen to know another guy that's in the same boat as I, but he has TWO kids. Granted, they are older than my son, but he does like 3 loads of laudry a DAY b/c his boys play soccer and baseball. He hates the commercial too. :|

Yes men do laundry, but a majority of those that do laundry (i assume!) are the soccermom/housewives type. I think it would be a better marketing decision for them to target the majority, than appeal to the minority.

(i maybe wrong about the women being the majority here)

and btw, i have never seen a laundry commercial with a man doing the laundry!

 

[cmdavid]

I been doin my own laundry since i was like 13 or something....

 

[TheOmegaCode]

Originally posted by: fatbaby

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Hi Fatbaby,

I know; they chose a woman, because "only women do laundry, especially do laundry for kids' clothes." What bullcrap!!!!!! I happen to know another guy that's in the same boat as I, but he has TWO kids. Granted, they are older than my son, but he does like 3 loads of laudry a DAY b/c his boys play soccer and baseball. He hates the commercial too. :|

Yes men do laundry, but a majority of those that do laundry (i assume!) are the soccermom/housewives type. I think it would be a better marketing decision for them to target the majority, than appeal to the minority.

(i maybe wrong about the women being the majority here)

and btw, i have never seen a laundry commercial with a man doing the laundry!

I've seen plenty of commercials where the man gets the clothes dirty, and the woman cleans 'em...

 

[ChrisIsBored]

You're just PMSing... go make us all a nice pie and we'll talk after sex.

 

[AvesPKS]

Because in every man's ideal world...

 

[luv2chill]

Men (single or married) are not a key demographic for detergent companies. Even though, as you say, there are a lot of men who do laundry, I will bet you a million dollars that the ratio of men who do the laundry to women who do the laundry is something like 1:100--who knows, maybe even more than that. Marketers thus aim for the audience who will most likely be in need of their product.

It's the same reason that you don't see beer commercials featuring a couple of ladies at a Chippendales show. Women are not a "target market" for beer, so beer companies choose not to spend their precious million/billion dollar advertising budget making commercials for people who aren't likely to use their product.

Thanks for making me recall things I learned from that nightmare marketing class.

l2c

P.S. I've just purchased a ReplayTV 4504--skips commercials automatically. What a godsend!

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: werk
It's called targetted advertising. Where have you been for the past 20 years?

I know, I know....it's called "demographics." But hell, I do more laundry in a week then his mom does in a month. All I want is equal billing for the single Dads. *waves flag in the air and blows trumpet*

 

[UglyCasanova]

Lol. I did a search for clorox on google and look what I found. It looks mean, so if if you think it's cruelty to animals or something I will promptly edit.

 

[RU482]

I do most of the laundry at my house...happiliy, cause my wife does the dishes and cleans...YUK

 

[RU482]

As long as his is an advertising rant....I am soooo friggen tired of car lot commercials screaming at me on the radio, I need to get XM

 

[MichaelD]

Daddy gets the clothes clean and bright
Daddy works two jobs
He got no sleep last night

Daddy cares for you
With his heart
He got the clothes clean, right from the start

The above was emailed to customerservice@clorox.com. When they send the looney wagon for me, I'll be waiting. With my Clorox Clean Clothes.

 

[JC]

I hear ya, I reach for the mute button every time that commercial comes on!

BTW, I like your version of the commercial

Also, many other commercials irk me, like Carl's Jr., Pepsi, Verizon, Wal-Mart, etc., etc., etc.

JC

edit: oh thanks for the reminder, gotta put the clothes in the dryer!

 

[guyver01]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
The above was emailed to customerservice@clorox.com. When they send the looney wagon for me, I'll be waiting. With my Clorox Clean Clothes.

shouldn't you be cleaning my clothes instead of coming up with jingles???

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: guyver01

Originally posted by: MichaelD
The above was emailed to customerservice@clorox.com. When they send the looney wagon for me, I'll be waiting. With my Clorox Clean Clothes.

shouldn't you be cleaning my clothes instead of coming up with jingles???

Would you like them "Fresh and Bright" or "Springtime Scented?" I just reread my original post and LMAO'd. I crack me up! I do so LOVE good conversation.....

I will now spend the rest of the day coming up with "male-slanted" versions of the Clorox II commercial. Long live testosterone!!!!

 

[MichaelD]

When Daddy does the laundry
It smells so nice
Smells like Spring, with sugar and spice

When my clothes get dirty
Dad knows what to do
He gets my clothes clean with Clorox Two

Daddy is the best in the world
Puts the clothes in washer
And gives them a whirl

When the clothes come out
The look like new
Daddy got them clean with Clorox Two


Now tell me; is that or is that not, a TV-Quality Ad? Okay Clorox, you can hand me my royalty check now, please.

 

[ObiDon]

and btw, i have never seen a laundry commercial with a man doing the laundry!

What about that commercial where the British dude shakes the clothes up in that little metal (Martini shaker???) container? He washes clothes in a machine, too!

 

[SgtBuddy]

Clorox is in business to save money.

They pay women less for the same work...where have you been for the last 20 years!?!

heh.


J/K

 

[Ornery]

After I had rotator cuff surgery, I handled a lot of the household chores while I stayed at home. I straightened the house, washed dishes and clothes all at the same time. Knocked out the whole routine in a couple hours. The clothes took a bit longer, but it's not like you have to stand in front of the machines while they run!

After doing it for a while, I now wonder why it's such a big production for my wife. For her it goes on for days, with clothes stacked everywhere and hanging from doorways. When I did the laundry, I finished it in one day and no clothes left anywhere, but they're final location in drawers or closets. It REALLY ain't that big of a deal!