Does Ragu Hate Dads?

[DanM]

Ragu recently

on the Internet where mom bloggers discuss what it is like in their house when dad cooks. Ragu then sent a link to this video to dad bloggers. It is made a bit of a ruckus with some claiming that Ragu hates dads.

Personally, I think that it is going a bit too far to say they hate dads. I do think this video does play on the old stereotypes that dads can't cook, take the easiest route possible (waffles, sausages, pizza, and bbq), or not interested in doing so. You could also make a case that the women in the videos are played as lushes who are not interested in actively engaging their kids. I find it hard to believe that they could not find a person who could say good things about her husband's cooking ability. Basically, poorly conceived and executed.

Any thoughts?

Dan

[gfweb]

Lame advertising BS, playing on stereotypes. From my experience most moms are bad cooks too.

But moms buy the groceries so Ragu panders to them.

[annabelle]

There has been more trashing of dopey dads in food related commercials in the last few years, so I think gfweb is on to their gimmick that moms buy the groceries. I agree it doesn't make mom a better cook, just in charge of the checkbook.

I wrote to General Mills a while back and asked them how several of their Cheerio commercials would fly if the gender roles were reversed. Basically, the wife was all but calling the husband an idiot. Nasturally, I received no response other than a generic one about how wholesome their products were. Go figure.

[Kouign Aman]

Hah. He's a good cook. Limited repetoire, but excellent within it, and expanding it steadily if slowly. Plus, he's the chief red sauce maker in the house.

And he does 99.4% of the grocery shopping. Maybe that's why he prefers to buy Prego ?

[Broken English]

I assumed you meant the italian meat sauce. Boy did you have me confused.

[Jenni]

I think the advert is lazy and full of stereotypes (the dad likes to barbecue, cooks lots of meat, etc.) and I didn't like it. I think it was offensive to mums and dads as the dads are sort of made out as lazy and unhelpful and the mums sit around in the kitchen gossiping about their husbands and fantasising about drinking wine.

However, I didn't interpret it as saying dads are bad cooks. In fact one of the women even says her husband was a professional chef and knows how to cook, he just doesn't seem to want to at home. And I think that's what the advert is trying to talk about - how dads may be less inclined to cook an ordinary week night meal. It's a generalisation and is definitely not always true, but it is something I have seen in many households. The dad will be an excellent cook and he'll love to spend time cooking at the weekend or at other times when it suits him. But whipping up a dinner on a weekday evening? Nah, can't be bothered, not interesting enough, just got home from work and am really tired (even when mum works too!). Even my Dad was a little like that. And in my friends house, the only dish her hubby will cook is biryani, and that's only because he says no-one else does it right! He's an excellent cook, he just doesn't like doing it unless he really feels like it.

I think a lot of it comes down to ideas about gender roles in the house. Dad may be an awesome cook, but it's mum's jobs to get meals on the table every evening. By the way, this is not a stereotype that I agree with or that I am happy with. But it's definitely an idea that exists.

Adverts that are insulting to men? Check out just about every cleaning advert these days! They insult women by implying that women do or should do all the cleaning, and any men featured are bumbling fools who make mess everywhere and have no idea how to do anything properly!

Anway, to summarise: Stupid, sexist adverts suck. But, in this case I think the generalisation made was that men don't like to take part in ordinary weeknight cooking as much, not that they can't cook.

Edited October 11, 2011 by Jenni (log)

[nickrey]

I assumed you meant the italian meat sauce. Boy did you have me confused.

Me too, thought it involved stains down front of shirt. I'd agree with that one.