In American society, the gender roles for having a baby
are usually held that the mom is the stay at home parent that cares for the
child and completes household chores.
The dad, on the other hand, continues working to have an income for the
family. These gender roles have been
common since the 1950s and have become the norm for American society. However, within the past three years, there
has been a shift from stay at home moms to stay at home dads. Referencing Louisa Peacock’s and Sam Marsden’s article titled “Rise in stay-at-home fathers fuelled by growing numbers of female
breadwinners,” official employment
statistics has shown that men now make up 10 percent of those who care for
children while their partner goes to work.
“There
were 227,000 men staying at home to look after family between September and
November last year, a rise of 19,000 compared to the same period in 2011 and
the highest increase since figures began in 1993.” Experts suggest that the shift is being
caused by men losing their jobs to the recent recession and have either failed
to attain a new job or have not pursued a new job due to their partner having a
well-paid job.
Mom and Huggies
In the two videos I have posted, the first video shows
the mom staying home and caring for the child.
She will handle all the household chores and jobs that will have to be
completed to care for her baby throughout the day. I believe the target audience for this video is for mothers-to-be or current mothers of young children. In addition, I believe it is effective reaching this target audience because mothers can relate to the commercial. Huggies promotes their product as "Huggies Makes Babies Happy." Although the slogan says very little about the quality of the product, Huggies has been a reliable brand since 1978. Mothers can be confident in purchasing the product and providing the best diaper for their child based on numerous years of research into the most comfortable, flexible, and absorptive diapers in the market.
Dad and Huggies
The second video shows numerous dads staying home to handle the household chores and care for their baby. Although the American society is starting to see a change in the number of stay at home dads, these videos defy the general gender roles that have become the norm of this society.The second video’s
target audience is fathers of young children who have been laid off or are having difficulty
finding a job. I also find this video
to be effective in reaching the target audience. This is due to the fact that Huggies is raising the awareness that stay at home dads are on the rise. Although it has been the norm that the father is the primary earner or provider for the house, Huggies is attempting to change the minds of all Americans. It is common to see several husbands be insecure or have difficulty grasping the fact that they may not be working and have to rely on the other partner to be the household earner. This commercial aims to justify that it is acceptable to be a father and not be the primary wage earner.
Furthermore, our culture is becoming more accepting of gay marriages. In this case, I think the commercial also targets gay male couples that have adopted a child. One will be the stay at home care taker, while the other continues to work. Therefore, the commercial is effective in reaching this target audience as well.
Sources:
I think that this is true in a sense because of the recession that more dads are now stay at home dads and the moms are breadwinner of the family. It's hard nowadays for some dads to accept that they are no longer the breadwinner. That is how I was raised and know that the male is supposed to be the breadwinner. But what happens if I don't want to be like that. I think that these commercials perfectly portray how society and communities as a whole are changing.
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