Susie O’Brien: Men as morons is a bad message
WE wouldn’t stand for women being patronised in advertising so we shouldn’t accept men being stereotyped as morons, writes Susie O’Brien.
Susie O'Brien
Don't miss out on the headlines from Susie O'Brien. Followed categories will be added to My News.
THE new sexist stereotype is here and it's the middle-aged, white, male moron.
He’s well-meaning but dumb. He can be seen bumbling his way through a range of social situations with a mixture of ineptitude and gormless charm.
Watch him make a robot out of a panty shield in a bid to impress his own kids!
See him battle to work the dishwasher!
Laugh as he struggles to understand what makes the air freshener dispenser randomly squirt!
While TV mums are competent and can often be seen enjoying a cuppa after completing the household chores, “Ad Dad” can’t be trusted to get the kids dressed for school in clothes worn the right way up. It’s ridiculous and wrong, but it’s been going on for decades. Remember the Palmolive guy who went camping and had a bar of soap popped under his pillow by his girlfriend?
THE MR MEN STUDY WAS DUMB, BUT THIS ONE’S DUMBER
REMEMBER THE MAJORITY OF MEN AREN’T PREDATORS
He was too stupid to realise how potent his own body odour was — he needed a woman to set him straight.
“Don’t wait to be told, you need Palmolive Gold,” the tagline went.
A few years later, we had the Bigpond guy who told his kid the Great Wall of China was designed to keep out rabbits. It’s the same today: from the Specsavers guy who mucks up his kids’ cubby to the guy who walks across a lawn full of prickles to get some chips, the one thing they have in common is that they’re idiots.
Men apparently need women to tell them how to get the best hotel deals, buy the right car, make their house smell nice and work out that the stuffed dog next to him on the couch isn’t real (thanks Samsung).
The clear message is that dads are dumb, husbands are hopeless and boyfriends are bumblers. We’d never treat women like this — so why is it acceptable to do it to men?
The latest example of Homo Moronis is an advertisement for Reconciliation Week that is based on the education of a man who calls himself the “average Australian”. He’s a slacker kind of guy with unruly hair, daggy clothes and a generous belly.
“G’day, I’m your average Australian,” he says, as he strolls around a footy field.
“I’m just doing average Australian things like watching Australian football with my Australian shepherd”.
There’s no explanation as to why he looks like such a loser — or why he’s talking like that.
The man says he knows quite a bit about our country — including that we have the “tastiest coat of arms in the world” — before he is interrupted by an Aboriginal woman.
“There’s also a bit that you don’t know. We’ve got the longest surviving culture on Earth,” the woman says.
“Just your average artists,” an Aboriginal man chimes in.
“Warriors,” another says.
“Inventors,” a third Aboriginal woman adds.
The guy just looks dumbly at these strange people who’ve invaded his day at the footy. The man’s education continues: another indigenous man eating a meat pie says Aborigines were the “first ever bakers”.
And yet another with a football says they were the “first ever Aussie footballers”.
At the end, a young, white woman puts her arm around Mr Average Aussie, who’s looking numb but appreciative of these efforts. The message is clear: he needs her to set him straight about his own country.
Apparently, it’s designed to inspire people to ask themselves: “What are some of the things I don’t know about our shared history?”
It’s wrong on every level. The guy featured appears too busy wondering where his next burger is going to come from to consider such a question.
It’s also patronising, annoying and clumsy. Instead of inspiring the white guy to know more in a positive light, it lampoons him for being light in colour and light on knowledge.
I am all for Aboriginal reconciliation and welcome increased respect of indigenous history and culture.
But such ads shouldn’t talk down to the ordinary Aussies they’re trying to appeal to — it will merely put them off.
The tagline is: Don’t keep history a mystery. Learn. Share. Grow.
How this ad, and many others like it, ever got made is the real mystery.
Susie O’Brien is a Herald Sun columnist
AFL locker room lechery reveals lack of respect
The sight of Richmond ruckman Mabior Chol being groped by his teammates was schoolboy locker room lechery. It was also pathetic, weird and we deserve better from our AFL players, writes Susie O’Brien.
Box office classics fail to capture iPhone generation
Movie night seems like the perfect way to get ourselves through stage four. But trying to introduce the iPhone generation to much-loved classics from the ‘80s has been a massive flop, writes Susie O’Brien.