Fight the Power Tools

Father's Day is around the corner. You know what that means: plenty of advertisements for power tools, golf balls, and neckties. Please, no drills or circular saws for me. I don't know how to use them. For me, a power tool is a laptop. Skip the golf balls too. It's not good family policy to spend five hours on a golf course hitting balls into sand and water. No one is comfortable wearing neckties (except for Mitt Romney), so don't buy those either. Can we order up some new cultural images of men? Are there fathers that we know that might like other kinds of gifts? How about a book? Maybe even a cookbook. No, not the ones about grilling meat. How about a simple cookbook for practical family meals with vegetables too!

Check out this Sears ad for Father's Day: "This is Destination Dad." No thanks. Instead, how about a gift certificate to a local restaurant that the family enjoys?

I give JCPenney credit for noticing that not all dads are exactly the same. They departed script with an advertisement of a gay couple and their children. Offering a diverse image of dads earned JCPenney a boycott from a group called One Million Moms (a group that doesn't actually consist of one million moms).

Recognizing the work of parents is a worthy endeavor (of course, the validation needn't come by way of consumerism). By all means, find some way to acknowledge the work of dads on this Father's Day. Buy something if you have to. Maybe even try to find a family-friendly gift for a dad that doesn't involve power tools, golf balls, or ties. (How about one of those awesome #1 Dad t-shirts?)

The Influence of Advertising

"When I'm watching my TV, and a man comes on to tell me, how white my shirts can be." Perhaps you recognize those lyrics from "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones. What a classic line about advertising. Can't you picture someone trying to sell you Tide or some other detergent, all of which do the same exact job of cleaning your clothes? So what makes you buy one product instead of the other? Advertising! Well, I suppose product placement in stores matters too (is the product on a good shelf that's eye level, or a low shelf so that you'll barely see it?) Don't forget about peer influence! I can safely say many of us aren't influenced by our friends to buy a certain type of detergent, but surely we are influenced when it comes to items like jeans, sneakers, shoes, handbags, etc. Such everyday items are often used as status symbols to impress our friends. We can buy jeans for $15 at Wal-Mart, but many of us will choose to pay much more for trendy brand names to show them off to our peers. How has advertising influenced you? And how do your peers influence what you buy and wear?