Do the "Men as Buffoons" ads really sell anything?

I posted a commentary late last year about how sick I am of seeing only ads that portray men as idiots and bad fathers. Inevitably, over and over, advertisers show men as the buffoon of the family, requiring the mother or child to come to his rescue when he partakes in some idiocy of the masculine kind. Every once in a while would not be a problem - we men certainly have our foibles - but it is by far the dominant paradigm in advertising nowadays.

But now, it appears advertisers are finally taking notice. Ad Age has up this article which calls for more positive portrayals of men in advertising.

While the advertising industry's negative depiction of fathers certainly isn't the cause of fatherlessness, it is part of the problem. In a TV culture like ours, the fact that the only fathers one can see on TV are buffoonish (at best) does influence young people's perceptions of fathers.

For young men, it makes it less likely they'll aspire to be fathers, see their own value as fathers or, as Mr. Pitts explains, want to do the "hard but crucial work of being Dad." For young women, it means they'll be more likely to be misled into thinking that their children's fathers aren't important, that divorce or separation from them is no big deal, or that they should, as is the increasing trend, simply dispense with dad altogether and have children on their own.

Here is hoping that this gains some momentum and we see more ads showing men as engaged, competent fathers. It can only help our society remember that fathers are important, and men should strive to be the best men and fathers they can be.