"Dadvertisement"' Doom: Nissan's Super Bowl Blunder

            The Super Bowl is undoubtedly a premiere sports event, reaching every facet of the American demographic to some extent. Whether viewers are drawn to the game itself, the halftime show headlined by a chart-topping musician, or the novel and unconventional commercials, there seems to be something there for everyone. With this in mind then, I couldn’t help but notice this year’s heavy emphasis on what some have deemed “Dadvertisements.” In particular, this year’s Nissan advertisement, entitled “With Dad” stood out to me as being extremely poignant. The commercial centers on a racecar-driving father faced with the struggle of balancing his career and his family. In the background is Harry Chapin’s popular and somber-toned song “Cats in the Cradle,” which keeps in the theme of an absentee father. Ironically troubling, however, is that the father in the commercial nearly dies in a car crash, and Chapin actually did die in a car crash. Ignorant or intentional? Guess we will never have the answer. But what we do know is that the ad tried to pull on the heartstrings, ending with a father who returns to drive away with his son in a Nissan Maxima.

Now, we can ascertain that Nissan intended to produce a commercial that would have viewers left feeling happy with the father and son being reunited, and the father having purportedly chosen his family over his career. By contrast, I tended to notice more troubling and arguably problematic aspects of the ad (aside from the irony of the Harry Chapin song choice). For starters, the mother figure never leaves the house, except for a brief stint in the car where she seems to be disciplining her son. Secondarily, why did the son not seem to harbor any resentment for his father but seemed to shirk the authority of his mother? And thirdly why is the breadwinner the male of the family whereas the female sits idly?

At a basic level, this seems to be a reflection of our society’s entrenched naturalization of gender roles. These gender roles are often understood as dichotomous social constructions where, “Women are seen as passive, nurturant, and dependent, and men are seen as aggressive, competitive, and independent” (Holz Ivory, Gibson, & Ivory, 2009, p. 172). The applicability of this understanding of gender roles to the “With Dad” commercial is so stark it’s almost disturbing. In this commercial we have the mother who does not take any action to change the hierarchical relationship structure, who is the sole caretaker of their son in her partner’s absence, and who naturally depends on her partner for support. By contrast we have the father who competitively partakes in one of the most dangerous “sports” (I still take issue with racecar driving being deemed a sport) and who is seemingly content with his lack of familial presence until the concluding moments of the commercial.

For me, this concept of gender roles seems so intuitive that it didn’t provide enough insight into how or why Nissan would deem this ad unproblematic. I thought it was interesting that while the Heterosexual Script is understood “as the blueprint for societally sanctioned romantic and sexual encounters and interactions,” its constructs still undoubtedly hold ground in light of this relatively platonic commercial. Specifically, the dimensions of Masculine and Feminine Commitment seem especially applicable. According to the idea of Masculine Commitment, “men do not take part in relationship maintenance (e.g. resolving a fight, spending time together) and try to evade becoming emotionally involved with their female partners. The MC code also describes men as prioritizing sex and other activities or people (e.g. career, friends) over their romantic relationships” (Kim, Sorsoli, Collins, Zylbergold, Schooler & Tolman, 2007, p. 148). Someone might think that this commercial made the ultimate breach to this code in having a presumably married man; however, every other facet of the description holds true. The man in this commercial focuses extensively on his career as a diversion from his familial problems. In a similar vein, the female character seems to embody the notion of Feminine Commitment of, “women prioritizing their romantic relationships, making sacrifices for the sake of their partners” (Kim, Sorsoli, Collins, Zylbergold, Schooler & Tolman, 2007, p. 148). This mother seems to exemplify this concept by ignoring the absence of her partner, thus subverting her own desires an assuming the responsibility of the sole caretaker of their son.

            Now, maybe I read into this commercial so much because I really didn’t appreciate the preeminence of “Dadvertisements” during this year’s Super Bowl. Perhaps I’m just biased in my losing my father; however, I truly think that the emphasis on dads was a blatant attempt to appeal to what many presume to be the “football demographic” (the male population). But my response to this would be, “Hey, I’m a young female who knows more about the sport than most men I know!” With that in mind, when I see these “Dadvertisements” I start to wonder, “Where are the strong women?” and when I see this particular Nissan ad, I’m prone to respond with, “It’s insulting that they would think that my gender and, by extension, I am passive and weak.” So while this ad tried to tug on the heartstrings and show a happy ending of a dad who chose his family, I don’t view this ad that way. I view it as a stereotypical ad that preys on the subversion of women to make an unfit father a fallible “hero.” 

References 

Holz Ivory, A., Gibson, R., & Ivory, J. D. (2009). Gendered relationships on television: Portrayals of same-sex and heterosexual couples. Mass Communication & Society, 12(2), 170-192. doi: 10.1080/15205430802169607

Kim, J. L., Sorsoli, C. L., Collins, K., Zylbergold, B. A., Schooler, D., & Tolman, D. L. (2007). From sex to sexuality: Exposing the heterosexual script on primetime network television. Journal of Sex Research, 44(2), 145-157. doi: 10.1080/00224490701263660