https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=C9LTRbWsGOI
Some folks are calling out this Tide commercial for re-enforcing lesbophobic gender norms. In it, an uptight mom wishes her little girl wore pink dresses instead of camouflage hoodies and cargo shorts. But is Tide lampooning the tomboy or the mom’s prissy attitude? After all, the commercial’s ultimate message seems to be that Tide washes everyone’s clothes. And at the end the mom encourages her daughter. Hmmm… You may now feel free to praise this commercial or threaten a boycott.
inoits2
Oh the horrors! There is not one thing wrong with a mother wanting her kid to be feminine. If I had a daughter I would want her to wear the cutest girl’s clothes money can buy.
Everyone wants their kid to be like them. Even though she’s disappointed she is clearly supportive. It’s so sad we live in a world where it is somehow a bad thing to want your kids to conform to gender models.
Jess
It’s just a f**cking commercial. Relax!!
Tony
First I don’t see anything anti-gay in that ad.
Second and most important. Tide’s maker P & G has a long history of being gay friendly. And the AFA has run boycotts aimed at them because they’re gay friendly.
P&G’s TV production company produced As The World Turns…you know the soap with Luke and Noah.
I know most you you guys here Queerty are young. But, if you’re going to run a website like this you need to know gay history.
Erik
wasn’t there a study recently that like only 20% of women like the color pink? Also, it looked like she was supportive of her kid, just irritated at the mess she makes…
gregger
Oh good gods Daniel. I worked for P&G for more than 7 years between As the World Turns, Another World, and Guiding Light. As much as I did not care for the way they did some things they were always supportive of my rights for a
BS free work place. The one time that an actor harassed me, he was called to H/R and told that if it happened again he could be fired and they would advise me on how to go after him for damages.
There has been a long-time Evanjerklical-Christo-Fascist boycott of all P&G products. This over P&G’s stance toward its LGBT employees.
Would you please research the targets of your intended smears before you go public and make a bigger fool of yourself?
Mav
I’m butch and transgendered (FtM), and I laughed out loud at the commercial the first time I saw it because it reminded me of my mom. I WAS that little “girl” in camoflage and cargo shorts arguing with her mother over carrying purses or wearing makeup. I was actually encouraged by the fact that gender variant people are being represented in advertising at all, even in a tongue-in-cheek manner.
I didn’t think this was a negative portrayal of either mother or daughter, actually. Out of all the “This is My Tide” commercials, this one is by far my favorite.
Daniel Villarreal
@gregger: This wasn’t a smear. At no point in the article did I smear this commercial: I merely summarized the arguments for and against it and then told readers to make their own decision.
gregger
@Daniel Villarreal: Then change your headline. The headline is misleading and a smear. Your first sentence in the article would have made a better headline, if you had specifics. You have a link to David Badash whining about this. Some people means more than one.
In this article you engaged in yellow dog journalism, just like Fox News. It’s unbecoming and not what I’ve been coming to this site for over the past years.
Daniel Villarreal
@gregger: The Tide commercial isn’t completely comfortable with tomboys. The mom wishes her kid’s clothes were destroyed. The headline’s not inaccurate nor is it a smear. And “some people” include the YouTube commenters whose comments helped form the core of this article. You can find those comments by clicking on the video’s YouTube link at the bottom of the player frame.
zintheth
I love it! They´re making fun of the mother’s discomfort. If anything it’s inclusive and respectful. It’s also accurate, a lot of people go or went through similar situations with their mothers.
gregger
@Daniel Villarreal: Daniel, you are off base and really need to look at what you are implying, inferring, and/or stating in your articles and headlines. The character, which is a ridiculous parody of the narrow minded people that make up a huge part of this nation, has a problem with her daughter’s clothing and activities choices. Do you see that, or will you continue barking up this tree?
You said “some folks are calling out” and you only link to one and rely that people will go to the YouTube site, instead of using the player that you put on the site. You never mentioned the YouTube comments or inferred anything about them until I called you on it.
This is still yellow dog or yellow journalism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism If you had asked Does Tide have a problem with…it would not have been sensationalist.
inoits2
Daniel, PLEASE stop giving in to appease.
BenJosh
Hmmm… The way I interpret this, they are taking the mick out of the mum, who is obviously a very uptight lady, and probably runs around after her hubby and kids with a mop in one hand and a dust cloth in the other all day.
BUT I’ve seen a Spanish-language version of this same advert where the daughter is a teenager, where the mum comes across less neurotic. The daughter, though, speaks up for herself just fine.
Daniel Villarreal
@gregger: Queerty does run sensationalist headlines. We always have. We deliberately use provocative interpretations of breaking stories to get readers interested and engaged. That being said, I don’t find anything particularly sensational about calling a detergent “not so very comfortable” with butch tomboys. Tide is using that discomfort in this commercial, is it not? (totally rhetorical) This post is not an indictment of Proctor and Gamble nor a critique on their pro-gay practices. It’s merely one comment on one commercial. This is the last I’ll say of this.
Thanks again for your input and readership. This type of spirited engagement is exactly what we seek.
gregger
@Daniel Villarreal: You are beyond belief Daniel.
Tide is part of Proctor & Gamble, your headline was an indictment of Tide. Ergo, your headline was an indictment of P&G.
Now that you have stated what your intentions are and clearly state that you want this website to be on par with Fox News, instead of giving accuracy, I’ll leave you to go do what ever with whom ever, where ever you so choose.
You just lost me.
Goodbye
Allen D.
Seems odd to me that people are automatically assuming that the child is a lesbian.
Tony
“Thanks again for your input and readership. This type of spirited engagement is exactly what we seek.”
Am I the only one you took this to mean: “Go fuck yourself”?
Daniel, darling, you need to develop a thicker skin and learn how to take criticism. Because Greggor is right you know.
Oscar
@Allen D.:
Agreed. Plenty of Tomboys aren’t lesbian. They’re just not into frilly dresses at that age. Why the need to enforce gender conforming with sexuality. Most cross dressing men are straight, not gay.
Miss Understood
@inoits2: I have no problem with the commercial but your comment makes me really angry. Yes is IS a bad thing to want your kids to conform to gender models. Kids should grow up to be whatever they will be. I’m glad you’re not my parent!
Pickles55
I think this is about point of view. For moms who DO cater to proscribed traditional gender norms (most mainstream mothers, the target of the commercial) they are meant to relate to the mom, not the daughter.
THAT is what makes it questionable.
The folks visiting Queerty are hardly the target audience. We already HAVE an analysis of gender and gender presentation that is different than what the mainstream normally represents.
So you have to step out of yourself and think about the message it’s sending to women who see themselves as just like the mom in the commercial.
Also, it’s not about whether or not the child is a lesbian, it’s about the fact that many lesbians were nonconformist in their gender expressions as children, just like many straight girls.
Clothing is clothing. If the little girl wants to wear “boys” clothing, there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s 2011, not the 1950s.
So yes, I DO have a problem with the mother being presented as she is.
If the commercial isn’t critiquing the little girls clothing (inherently) there would be no commercial.
Again, it’s not about US, it’s about the target audience mainstream white moms.
In this day and age, I can’t imagine any mom that I know thinking anything of their daughter wanting to wear fatigues.
However, if you look at the comments on videos of Angelina Jolie’s daughter, it’s disgusting the responses to her liking “boys” clothing. The sexism and homophobia runs rampant in those comments
And those women are Tide’s target audience.
Also, YT users are people, just like readers of Queerty.
It’s really just nitpicking to claim that comments from YT don’t count because those readers aren’t on Queeerty.
They reflect a lot more of the mainstream than the readers here.
It’s a jacked up commercial. Daniel did nothing wrong. He presented it and folks get to respond. End of.
Regardless of P&G’s history (which I agree is MOSTLY positive regarding LGBT stuff for such a conservative company – lets not forget the effectiveness of the AFA boycotts in limiting the Luke and Noah storyline)
Mark
I think the message mainstream america will take from this ad is validation in feeling sad or horrified when your child defies society’s gender norms.
anonymous
Is there a reason every title has to be snarky? This article isn’t the best example, but it just reminded me of the fact that all of the sarcasm that covers this website shows disrespect toward the more serious issues being covered.
Shannon1981
As a genderqueer butch boi, I get annoyed w hen I see shit like this. Tongue in cheek or not, history of gay friendliness or not…in the current climate, all anyone will see is the unruly tomboy as “bad” and the desperate mother trying to tame her daughter who refuses to grow up to be some kind of effeminate clone of Miss America. I don’t like it at all, and I applaud Daniel for what he is doing here. Enough for a boycott? Nah. But yes, they need to pull this shit and apologize.
JosephJ
@Allen D.:
This.