Advertisements for products designed for children only ever refer to "mums", as if only female parents matter - examples include Coco Pops, Cheerios, Kinder and Babybel. The packaging on Asda's own-brand kids food bears the slogan "Chosen by kids, approved by mums" as if dads' views don't matter. Then there is P&G whose current TV advertisement only heralds mums, as if dads are irrelevant and non-existent. Advertising like this is sexist and old-fashioned, and reinforces the outdated belief that nurturing children is solely a woman's thing. Why exclude dads just because they are male? Who said parenting was for females only? There are plenty of dads who care about their kids' well-being just as much as mums do, and some children don't have mothers or just don't live with them. Why not include parents of both gender? It would also be nice to see unmarried parents, LGBT parents, mixed-race families and even extended families represented in advertising.
Dear Sir/Madam,
Your advertising is wrong because it only mentions mums, as if male parents are invalid and don't matter as much as female parents do. Why exclude fathers just because they are male? There are plenty of dads who care about their children and want the best for them just as much as mums do, so your advertising should include parents of both gender. It is 2014, not 1914, so I would like to see more modern, gender-inclusive depictions of family settings, and not outdated, sexist stereotypes. Not all families are nuclear families either, so why put one particular family setting on a pedestal and exclude all others? As well as including dads, I would also like to see single parents, unmarried parents, non-middle-class families, mixed-race families and LGBT families.
Yours faithfully,
