Geoff Botkin's latest rant: Peanut Butter Cheerios!!

[Marian the Librarian]

From westernconservatory.com:

A Canadian ad agency has just broken every politically correct rule of TV fatherhood. General Mills Canada hired the Toronto firm to pitch a product that’s “awesome and responsibleâ€: Peanut Butter Cheerios. The commercial's Creative Director Josh Stein did something truly creative. He associated the two words with fatherhood. The result: a two minute tour of family life narrated by a young middle class dad who isn't dopey, clueless, cowardly, or detached from reality. And get this: he comes with a wife and children who respond to him in the home with affection and respect.

The cereal box makes a brief appearance as Dad passes it to a teen son and adjusts the boy’s wardrobe. He looks the son in the eye and says, “That’s a boy (hat turned sideways) and that’s a man (hat facing front).†Later, in a corny, more adolescent moment, Dad proclaims Peanut Butter Cheerios “the official cereal of dadhood.â€

But the star of the commercial isn’t the cereal. It’s confident and competent fatherhood. General Mills has presented a boss-awesome dad archetype, and viewers are eating it up. "Man. I bought it,†said one online commenter. “The messaging that is. Now I want to buy the cereal.â€

“We (dads) lead by example,†Dad says direct to camera. “When a rule is broken, we’re the enforcement. When a heart is broken, we’re the reinforcement.â€

From his first waking moment, Dad has believable relationships with children who, rather than snickering and rolling their eyes at lame ol' dad, act happy and secure with a father figure who is clearly awesome and responsible himself. This confident father walks fast, talks fast, and his children happily follow him out of the house (note: Dad is leading) into the big, wide world where the closing product super is supposed to come up on screen. But it’s not the product logo that appears. It’s a hashtag: #howtodad. This brilliant. This creative campaign is creating viral “brand lift†and drawing brand loyalty to General Mills. Response to the ad shows the company looking “awesome and responsible†to the very demographic they have just connected with: parents. Parents who are serious about parenting and who are fed up with media that mocks parental authority.

"I don't even like cereal, and I'm headed to Sam's Club to buy a pallet of these Cheerios,†reads one of hundreds of similar grateful comments, “...because I want to see more commercials similar to this!â€

The Cheerios campaign makes no sniveling apologies for fathers dispensing wisdom (a dozen lessons in two minutes), fathers giving direction (Dad gives verbal and non-verbal instruction to all four children), or big families (four kids is really big in Canada). From the moment dad gets up, he has a mission and a message: our kids think we’re awesome, and “being awesome isn’t about breaking rules, it’s about making them.â€

With this line, General Mills just stood up as the adult in the creative advertising world.

The giant spenders like Proctor and Gamble, Pepsi, and Time Warner have not been giants of moral leadership. For a generation they have followed the “Scoff at Dad†school of childish filmmaking. One recent Tide Acti-Lift Detergent ad was a brazen 60-second celebration of teenage victory over dad's stupid morality. In a masterful example of the penetrating power of cinema, Dad’s morality and authority were overthrown in seconds.

The story: Dad disapproves of his shapely teen daughter’s micro-mini-skirt. He takes it off the clothesline and uses it as a grease rag, tossing it in a trash can. The daughter is outraged. But clever Mom conspires with daughter to clean up the garment and send the daughter flouncing out the door for another night on the town. In this short cultural lesson, daughters everywhere are shown how to flaunt defiance, shake their derrieres, sneer at Dad’s authority, and tousle Dad’s hair like he’s child. The narrator reminds us that “Dad may try to ruin your style, but dry stains won’t," while an explicit rap track exalts nightly fornication. As Mom gloats with a satisfied smirk, and daughter sails out the door to enjoy her own defiant lifestyle, Dad just sits in his chair in the living room looking stupid, offering a wan smile in abject moral defeat.

But the General Mills dad is a new kind of TV dad. He doesn’t surrender. He doesn’t shrink. He’s not checked out. He engages. He clearly enjoys the responsibilities and benefits of family life. The best review of the spot was a seven-word comment on the internet, written by a young man whose life was changed by a creative, two-minute TV message. “I can’t wait,†he wrote, “to be a dad.â€

Mercy, the axe-grinding verbiage! "Dopey," "clueless," "cowardly," "snickering," "lame," "sniveling," "childish," "scoff," "flouncing," "sneer," "smirk," "defiant," "stupid," "abject moral defeat." (Not to mention the nightly fornication! :pearlclutch: ) Kinda reminds me of what happened a few months ago, when ol' Ray-of-Sunshine-Geoff got himself into trouble, and had to issue a written apology, after referring to Christian rap musicians as "disobedient cowards" at one of Scott Brown's NCFIC gatherings. Guess his bad mood hasn't lifted yet.

[FundieWatcher]

I wonder if he realizes General Mills openly supports same - sex marriage? Or maybe he doesn't care, as long as the men are manly and the women are submissive.

[DGayle]

Sounds like a commercial that's more wholesome than the most wholesome episode of Andy Griffith (some of those episodes allude heavily to Barney having sex--oh the impurity!).

I don't have an interest in watching a long commercial that will preach at us. Also I don't like that one of a dad deciding to use his daughter's skirt as a grease rag, and then the claim that the mom and daughter undermine him by cleaning it. The skirt belonged to the daughter, and trying to ruin it instead of talking to her is disrespectful.

[ViolaSebastian]

"I don't even like cereal, and I'm headed to Sam's Club to buy a pallet of these Cheerios,†reads one of hundreds of similar grateful comments, “...because I want to see more commercials similar to this!â€

I don't believe one person said this, let alone one hundred...

[Howl]

Geoff also does not seem to realize that the focus of advertising is manipulating you into believing something is real when it isn't.....and buy Cheerios.

It is also

very "white"

very middle class

I noticed when I watched it that everyone else in the house is up and going by the time dad gets out of bed.

Does it realistically model good parenting?

Dang, now I crave Cheerios and milk.

[lipstickgoalie]

Sounds like a commercial that's more wholesome than the most wholesome episode of Andy Griffith (some of those episodes allude heavily to Barney having sex--oh the impurity!).

I don't have an interest in watching a long commercial that will preach at us. Also I don't like that one of a dad deciding to use his daughter's skirt as a grease rag, and then the claim that the mom and daughter undermine him by cleaning it. The skirt belonged to the daughter, and trying to ruin it instead of talking to her is disrespectful.

Completely off topic but Mr Goalie and I watched a fair bit of the Andy Griffith Show on Netflix a while back and found it to be downright creepy. In particular when Andy met a lovely female newcomer to Mayberry and remarked that "You sure do have a pretty smile. Toothy too." It totally freaked us right the fuck out and was dripping with the undertones of a man who is planning on making pajamas out of her skin and repurpose that toothy smile into a fetching tiara later that night.

Also after watching multiple hours we lost our shit when we saw an African American resident of Mayberry. I actually called my dad after midnight to report that particular sighting. Who knew there was ANY ethnic diversity in Mayberry? Any. At all.

[DGayle]

Completely off topic but Mr Goalie and I watched a fair bit of the Andy Griffith Show on Netflix a while back and found it to be downright creepy. In particular when Andy met a lovely female newcomer to Mayberry and remarked that "You sure do have a pretty smile. Toothy too." It totally freaked us right the fuck out and was dripping with the undertones of a man who is planning on making pajamas out of her skin and repurpose that toothy smile into a fetching tiara later that night.

Also after watching multiple hours we lost our shit when we saw an African American resident of Mayberry. I actually called my dad after midnight to report that particular sighting. Who knew there was ANY ethnic diversity in Mayberry? Any. At all.

The show also has a fair bit of what we'd call sexism today, but it was pretty forward for back then. Ellie called Andy out on his shit more than once, ran the town's one drug store, and won a place on the town council. The diversity in the show was more class diversity. I'm sure we all would have loved to see a show with the diversity we expect today, and women as complete equals, but remember back then you couldn't even say the p-word on TV (pregnant!), and the first interracial kiss was a way off (and the network had to be tricked into running it). There was also a real emphasis on charity and giving and helping people without judgement, that beats the pants off of shows today. I love the show because I watch it for how it as intended, and it really was forward and revolutionary when it was made. It was a baby step forward, but still a step. Oh, and we got a name like Opie.

[Rachel333]

I was hoping he was literally offended by the peanut butter cheerios themselves. :lol: I guess it's good that he's actually positive about something.

I think I've gotten a bit cynical about these kinds of things. Whether a commercial is offensive or praised or both, it just serves to provide more advertising for the company. Gay marriage is a good topic because one portion of the population will get enraged and protest, giving the company a lot of free publicity, and they get to seem cool and progressive to the rest of the population without really even doing anything.

[JemimaPuddle-Duck]

I don't believe one person said this, let alone one hundred...

Lol! I don't know about a hundred, but I have a male friend who actually did basically say that exact thing on Facebook :-)

[JHeathen]

I wonder if he realizes General Mills openly supports same - sex marriage? Or maybe he doesn't care, as long as the men are manly and the women are submissive.

...and then there's Mr. Heathen and my favorite Cheerios commercial...the one with the interracial married couple where the kid pours out Cheerios on napping Dad's heart. Wonder what he thinks about THAT one? LOL

[Just_Jane]

I'm excited to learn that they still make peanut butter cheerios. My usual grocery store doesn't stock them anymore. I should go to a few more stores this week.

[thoughtful]

Oh, FFS, Geoff.

There are lots of commercials that show good, calm, competent Dads.

Here are some from Tide (of course, Dad is doing laundry, so Geoff might not approve):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M28l-6LUp3w

The tear-inducing Extra gum origami wrapper ad:

A heroic Dad:

I couldn't find one of my favorite Dad ads -- it was for an insurance company, and showed a father slowly picking up a newspaper from a driveway and just sort of standing around for no apparent reason. Then we see two teens in a car in the garage behind him. One, his daughter, realizes what he is doing, and tells her friend they have to put on their seat belts. They do, and Dad saunters off, no longer blocking their way, never having made eye contact.

Not to mention that these are all just ads -- people trying to sell stuff. There's no mandate for them to produce good examples of humanity or great art.

[Trynn]

I do tire of the "father as

Bumbling fool everyone laughs at trope.

However.... I dislike the male as leader thing whoever wrote this had going on.

[fun2beme]

I love chocolate Cheerios and can't wait to try the PB ones. I'll bet mixing them together would be wonderful. Or would it represent the "purity" of Christians being thrown in with the dark side of sinners?

What kind of loser puts that much time and effort into analyzing a commercial versus channel hopping during ads like most people?

[It'sFunToRun]

From westernconservatory.com:

Mercy, the axe-grinding verbiage! "Dopey," "clueless," "cowardly," "snickering," "lame," "sniveling," "childish," "scoff," "flouncing," "sneer," "smirk," "defiant," "stupid," "abject moral defeat." (Not to mention the nightly fornication! :pearlclutch: ) Kinda reminds me of what happened a few months ago, when ol' Ray-of-Sunshine-Geoff got himself into trouble, and had to issue a written apology, after referring to Christian rap musicians as "disobedient cowards" at one of Scott Brown's NCFIC gatherings. Guess his bad mood hasn't lifted yet.

Is this a cereal commercial, or a porno?

[Lady Grass Lake]

Want a real treat? Make Rice Krispy treats and substitute Cherrios for the krispies. Chocolate or Dulce de Leche ones are the best. Peanut Butter would be good to.

[It'sFunToRun]

"...his children happily follow him out of the house (note: Dad is leading) into the big, wide world..."

From my days as a youth instructor, a single leader always needs to be in the back of the group so that he/she can see all the kids and make sure they're not wandering off or getting into trouble. If you have more than one instructor, then one should be in the front and one in the back, but the back is the most important.

I think that anyone who has ever had experience wrangling groups of children (or even young adults) would know this.

[Coco]

The Botkins watch network TV? :o

[church_of_dog]

I love chocolate Cheerios and can't wait to try the PB ones. I'll bet mixing them together would be wonderful. Or would it represent the "purity" of Christians being thrown in with the dark side of sinners?

What kind of loser puts that much time and effort into analyzing a commercial versus channel hopping during ads like most people?

It might be like wearing wool and linen mixed together, as prohibited in the bible :lol:

[Becket70]

Ah, yes. The commercials showing dad as the bumbling fool. Right now we are being treated to endless showings of an ad for Time-Warner Cable in which the husband buys a whole bunch of furniture because it was a better deal than buying just the couch. (husbands buy furniture without their wives?) The entire living room is filled with furniture as the husband blinks innocently and the wife is perturbed. The point of the ad, which seems to get lost amongst the furniture, is that you don't have to bundle products with Time-Warner and can buy just lost-cost internet.

It is a dumb ad.

[debrand]

I admit that I hate commercials where dad is an idiot who is clueless how to care for his own children or make simple decisions for himself; however, I am equally annoyed at the idea that women are always annoyed bitches stuck with their childish husbands. These commercials are equally sexist against men and women.

:pink-shock: My grandson wanted me to use this smilie

[Mama Mia]

I really like that lately there really are more commercials where dads are just being dads. In many of them the dad is doing laundry or cleaning or changing diapers and it's just part of the ad for the product --- not that he's bumbling along and inept. I think they really increased after the economic crash, when being the primary at-home parent became a more common role for men ( that's my theory anyway) .

What's really funny is that when I googled to find the Cheerios ad, the first site that came up was with a description from someone who liked the ad but for the exact OpPOSITE reason as Geoff Botkin -- because dad was cool and fun and not all about disciplining and was getting the kids up ( one child was still sleeping) and making breakfast and helping get the kids out the door !

adland.tv/commercials/pesnut-butter-cheerios-howtodad-215-canada

Hilarious that your own philosophy makes you see what you want to see --- and definitely means it's a really effective ad! I thought it was great, lots of message, but looked like a big family getting reading for the day - just in a nicer house than most, cause hey, it's an ad :D the only thing that bugged me at all was the sideways hat reference was 20 years out of date ( unless that's made a comeback).

As for Andy Griffith, there are of course occasional WTF moments, but it isn't reasonable to expect a 2014 reading of culture in a 1964 setting. And I agree that there really are some strong women on the show, and I love their diversity regarding class - I think in that way they are more progressive than you see on anything now -- where if someone is rich- that's the entire point, and if someone is poor that's the entire focus.

[thoughtful]

Hey, Geoff -- I have also always hated the dad-as-boob thing, too.

But then, I generally hate any ad, movie or sitcom that makes one person the official idiot -- it's an attempt at having a source of easy jokes, and ends up being very predictable.

But, to me, it has nothing to do with the sex of the official idiot -- it's just lazy writing.

It's not like this was never done to female characters. There was a long, long tradition of the ditzy woman who screwed everything up in film, TV and advertising -- and it was just lazy writing.

Sometimes, the man was the idiot even back in The Good Old Days[tm][/tm], and it was (say it with me) just lazy writing.*

When it turned around to being more likely that the man would be predictably ditzy, I was not happy. But, Geoff, it is not a sign of society going downhill, and it is not feminism -- it's just lazy writing.

--------

*There were some examples of using this device and the skills of better writers and actors still making it work. Some examples are I Love Lucy, in which the wife was the ditzy one, and The Honeymooners (or The Flintstones, which was essentially The Honeymooners animated), in which the husbands were the ditzy ones.

And I couldn't watch either of them - I was the kid asking "Dad, why didn't he/she just tell the truth in the first place?" The plots either seemed stupid or made me nervous. But I do understand why others love those shows -- it's not about the predictable plot, it's about the skills of some very funny people.

I did (and still do) love The Dick van Dyke show -- any character on that show could be the wise one or the ditz, depending on what was happening, or their particular vulnerabilities. It was still exaggerated and not like real life, to make it funny, but there was not one official idiot, and Rob and Laura handled the times when one of them was being foolish with compassion, not scorn.

[Becket70]

I really like that lately there really are more commercials where dads are just being dads. In many of them the dad is doing laundry or cleaning or changing diapers and it's just part of the ad for the product --- not that he's bumbling along and inept. I think they really increased after the economic crash, when being the primary at-home parent became a more common role for men ( that's my theory anyway) .

What's really funny is that when I googled to find the Cheerios ad, the first site that came up was with a description from someone who liked the ad but for the exact OpPOSITE reason as Geoff Botkin -- because dad was cool and fun and not all about disciplining and was getting the kids up ( one child was still sleeping) and making breakfast and helping get the kids out the door !

adland.tv/commercials/pesnut-butter-cheerios-howtodad-215-canada

Hilarious that your own philosophy makes you see what you want to see --- and definitely means it's a really effective ad! I thought it was great, lots of message, but looked like a big family getting reading for the day - just in a nicer house than most, cause hey, it's an ad :D the only thing that bugged me at all was the sideways hat reference was 20 years out of date ( unless that's made a comeback).

As for Andy Griffith, there are of course occasional WTF moments, but it isn't reasonable to expect a 2014 reading of culture in a 1964 setting. And I agree that there really are some strong women on the show, and I love their diversity regarding class - I think in that way they are more progressive than you see on anything now -- where if someone is rich- that's the entire point, and if someone is poor that's the entire focus.

Agree with you about Andy Griffith's show. It was a different time in our history. Andy Griffith is one of my personal heroes. It took guts for him to come out in support of progressive causes when his core audience was likely very conservative. And if you have never seen his movie "A Face in the Crowd" you should try and catch it when it is on TV. Once you see it, you will know where Rush Limbaugh and his ilk came from and how phoney they are. (my opinion is that the majority of these radio pundits are playing a role and are not true believers in anything but money) It's a far cry from Andy Taylor or Benjamin Matlock but you will never forget his character Lonesome Rhodes.

[thoughtful]

Andy Griffith is one of my personal heroes. It took guts for him to come out in support of progressive causes when his core audience was likely very conservative. And if you have never seen his movie "A Face in the Crowd" you should try and catch it when it is on TV. Once you see it, you will know where Rush Limbaugh and his ilk came from and how phoney they are. (my opinion is that the majority of these radio pundits are playing a role and are not true believers in anything but money) It's a far cry from Andy Taylor or Benjamin Matlock but you will never forget his character Lonesome Rhodes.

I second this recommendation -- A Face in the Crowd will probably appeal to a lot of FJers.

The theory is that the character was based on Arthur Godfrey, with a bit of Will Rogers and Tennessee Ernie Ford thrown in, although Bud Schulberg, who wrote the story from which the film was adapted, said Will Rogers was the main inspiration.

Here's Schulberg's original story:

http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.t ... aveler.pdf