Clorox Thinks Dads Are A Bunch Of Bumbling, Dangerous Idiots

The only stereotype that is more tired than the wine-swilling mom in yoga pants, is the utterly confused father who can’t dress his child or change a diaper. Nobody told Clorox, who apparently still thinks these stereotypes are hilarious. They posted an essay on their website this week that pissed off dads everywhere.

Like dogs or other house pets, new Dads are filled with good intentions but lacking the judgment and fine motor skills to execute well.

Wait, what? Who wrote this garbage? At best, the essay painted the picture of a new dad as a bumbling idiot. At worst, it painted the picture of a dad that lacked so much sense, he was actually a danger to his child. The essay aimed to point out “a few dangerous no-nos new Dads might make” and offered some “training tips.” Ha ha. Training tips. They’re animals, get it? Make it stop.

From implying that a father wouldn’t have the sense to dress his child appropriately for a rainstorm to accusing fathers of being beer-swilling gamblers who force their babies to watch reality TV – Clorox really hit the jackpot with this one. If the jackpot is insulting the very demographic that they generally court to buy their products. You do realize that parents buy your products, right Clorox? I hate to break it to you, but men run households, too. They care for children. They do laundry. They clean up messes. It’s 2013. Apparently who ever wrote this copy has been frozen in ice for about four decades.

Can we stop perpetuating the stereotype that men don’t know how to be fathers? I’m sick of everyone assuming that women have some playbook for being the perfect parent hardwired into their vaginas. We don’t. We have to navigate through parenthood and figure it out – just like dads. Instead of trying to imagine how a father would feel about this stupid essay Clorox threw together, I’m just going to quote one of my favorite Dad bloggers – Zach from 8 Bit Dad:

The problem is that these toxic images and jokes at the expense of dads do a couple of things: they continue the ignorant thinking that only mothers can care for babies. These images attempt to widen the divide between moms and dads where dad is forced to be one of the kids and mom is burdened with all of the housework. These images discourage fathers from being the best that they can be hey, if Clorox thinks dads shouldn’t touch the baby, maybe we should skip the grueling newborn phase, dump the baby on mom and go hang out with our buddies?

Don’t make me live without Clorox Clean Up, please. Get your shit together, Clorox.

(photo: KellyBoreson/ Shutterstock)