|
This letter to Glenn Sacks, one of our
columnists, was written by a Texas grandma named
Betty Barker. Betty writes:
I want to call your attention to a new
commercial (The Elliotts) for Verizon DSL. They
have a little girl of about eight working at a
computer. Her dad is looking over her shoulder,
looking slightly amazed. He says something silly
like, 'That's like an encyclopedia thing.' The
child says, 'It IS an encyclopedia' and in a look
which could kill, looks at her mother as if to say
'get this idiot out of here.'
The mother is standing in the doorway and tells
the father to go wash the dog. He says he’s
helping his daughter with her homework and stays.
The mother snaps "Leave her alone!" and, when he
again hesitates, she yells at him. The father is
humiliated and walks away looking like a whipped
puppy.
It really made me furious when I saw it. I
called Verizon Corporate offices and asked for Ms.
Jerri DeVard, who is the VP in charge of marketing.
Her secretary was a bulldog and finally gave me to
Melinda Johnson who is in Executive Customer
services.
I asked her if she thought Verizon would ever
make the same commercial with the roles reversed
and she said that she was quite sure that they
would not. She told me that they had not received a
public outcry over the ad. I assured her that there
would be...
Sincerely,
Betty Barker
Glenn writes: "Well, grandma I can’t turn
down an offer like that, and yes, you are right,
Verizon will very shortly be acquainted with
us.
Now I don’t think Verizon means any
harm--I'm sure they’re decent people but
they've developed the moral blind spot I've talked
about many times on this show--the moral blind spot
towards disparaging males.
A mountain of research shows how indispensable
fathers are to their children's well-being--not
just their income, but their presence, their
fathering--not their mothering, their fathering. It
is tremendously damaging to convince a boy or girl
that his or her father is an idiot or that fathers
are worthless.
I have a daughter around the age of the girl in
the commercial and I dispute the idea--the
idea!--that because I'm male my love for my
daughter and my son is somehow cheaper, lesser, not
as good, not up to par, not as important. I'm
angered over the way fathers have been vilified
over the past three decades.
I dispute the idea that my father, and the
fathers of his generation, who worked so hard to
support their families and take care of their
children, I dispute the idea that they are somehow
lesser, that it's OK to dismiss our fathers,
denigrate our fathers, disregard our fathers,
disrespect our fathers.
I call this Verizon ad the 'Leave Her Alone!'
commercial. I want all of you to write and call
Verizon and tell them you want them to withdraw the
'Leave Her Alone!' commercial. I want you to
bombard them with protests. Be polite, but let them
know exactly how you feel.
All the information on how to email and call
Verizon is below. Thank you for your support and
activism."
Glenn Sacks
Source: hisside.com/verizon_campaign.htm
Our Letter to Ivan G. Seidenberg, President
and CEO and Mary Beth Bardin, Executive VP Public
Affairs and Communication
This letter concerns Verizon's anti-father
'Leave her alone!' commercial. In the commercial a
father is trying to help his young daughter with
her homework when he is belittled and scolded by
his wife, who orders him to 'leave her alone!' I
would be amazed if your marketing department would
have accepted the advertising agency's story-board
if they had reversed the roles of the mother and
father, and changed the girl to a boy. This is
obviously not the case for this commercial. I also
don't understand how putting down a major part of
your target market, especially for DSL services,
which I would suspect is more male driven than
female driven, fits Verizon's objective. I further
believe that such anti-father messages are harmful
to our sons and daughters, and I respectfully
request that you withdraw this commercial
immediately.
Gordon Clay
Related Topics: Verizon
Responses, Take
Action, Sample
email or letter, E-mail
list, Verizon
contacts Verizon
Gives Money to Men Stopping Violence
Program
* * *
Contact
Us |
Disclaimer
| Privacy
Statement
Menstuff®
Directory
Menstuff® is a registered trademark of Gordon
Clay
©1996-2023, Gordon Clay
|
