Tide: Cargo Shorts are the New Pink

Recently, I’ve noticed a commercial airing for Tide laundry detergent. In it, a stereotypical suburban mother comments on her young daughter’s fashion choices – she likes to wear hoodies and cargo shorts instead of pink – and when the mother uses Tide to successfully remove crayon stains from her daughter’s clothes, she laments that “it’s really too bad.” When I first saw this commercial, I was really bothered by it. If the mother’s disapproval is any indication, the message the commercial appears to be sending is that all girls should like pink and play with dolls. And even more disturbing is the implication that girls who don’t wear pink and play with building blocks might become lesbians (and that if the child was to grow up to be gay, the mother would be disappointed about this).

And yet, the more I thought about, I began to actually like the commercial. I appreciated that the commercial doesn’t reproduce the stereotypes of young girls (and really, women in general) that perpetuate the media. Instead of the typical image of a little girl dressed up in a fairy princess costume, we see a different identity for young girls, one that would normally remain invisible. The mother is at the very least kind towards her daughter and compliments her talent, even if she wishes she was more feminine. The commercial also shows that gender roles are social constructions that are learned, not part of our inherent biology. If anything, the commercial sides with the daughter, because it is the mother who looks foolish for wanting her to fit into societal norms (and for not wanting the stains to wash out of her daughter's less-than-girly clothes). If only toy companies would follow suit and open up their marketing to young girls beyond Bratz dolls.

Of course, the effectiveness of the commercial is extremely limited. As several bloggers pointed out, if the commercial is supposed to be satirizing suburban values, then it doesn’t do a good job of getting it’s message across. And the daughter doesn’t speak up for herself, so we are essentially only getting the mother’s point-of-view. So while the message of the advertisement is ultimately undermined, and the execution is poor, I can at least respect it for attempting to produce something new.