A Victory for Dads: Huggies Anti-Dad Commercials Will Not Air

By Eric Ross, PhD, National Writers Syndicate


Huggies, the diaper brand produced by Kimberly-Clark, finally caved in to the pressure from the men’s groups and individual fathers. It changed its “Have Dad Put Huggies To The Test” campaign after the Huggies’ commercials depicting dads as uncaring, sparked public outrage among fathers.

The Huggies’ commercials showed dads so consumed by sports on TV that they neglected to attend to their babies’ basic sanitary needs when the diapers filled up. The commercial’s voice-over claimed that the company put the diapers to the ultimate test “to prove that Huggies diapers and wipes can handle anything”… including uncaring dads, we must surmise. I must add that from my own dad, to myself, to anyone I know, dads are at least as caring, capable, attentive parents as moms. At least!


Dads saw this outrageous father-bashing right through: while claiming to celebrate fatherhood, Huggies used the misandric stereotype of uncaring, infantile dads. Apparently, Huggies commercial were catering to the primitive stereotypes promulgated by gender-feminists. Not surprisingly, dads protested, en masse.


The first wave of protests got the attention of Huggies and its parent company, Kimberly-Clark. “We have heard the feedback from dads concerning our current ‘real life’ dad commercials,” said Joey Mooring, Huggies spokesperson in a statement. “We have listened and learned… We recognize our intended message did not come through and that we need to do a better job communicating the campaign’s overall message… We also realize that a fact of life is that dads care for their kids just as much as moms do and in some cases are the only caregivers,” Mooring adds, “The intention of our Huggies TV ad was to illustrate that dads have an opinion on product performance just as much as moms do.”



Whatever” good intentions” Huggies claim they had, Dads have heard the true message in the commercials loud and clear and won’t be fooled by platitudes. Dads did not mince words when expressing their outrage to the company. When companies engage in men-bashing, public protest is just the beginning – they may have to face a global boycott of their products, a sharp drop in revenues and steep declines of their stock prices.


One would only wish politicians would have to face similar consequences for their misandric demagoguery.

ABC News - Dads Were Not Amused: Huggies Had to Pull Their Commercial