02.08
Dockers’ “Wear the Pants” campaign has been expanded in a big way during the Superbowl, which had many ads challenging ‘manliness’ this year.
While playing my Wordscraper moves on Facebook (please, no Farmville invites!) I saw that I was being targeted by Dockers’ ads for the campaign. Their Facebook Page has an inviting “Comment” box right in the middle of it. I invite all of you who have an opinion about this campaign and a Facebook account to share on their Facebook page. You do not have to become a Fan to comment.
I think there is a character limit for the comment box, so try to be brief. The comment I wrote is below:
I would prefer that Dockers stick to selling pants, instead of trying to sell me their misappropriated science mixed with a tired version of 1950’s style white American middle-class manhood. The “truth” is that humans have saturated our environment with estrogenic compounds from various manufacturing processes (including making pants). This has led to lower testosterone levels across the animal kingdom, which has been found in dozens of studies. If that has anything to do with changes in masculine behavior, buying your pants or your story about the way men should act won’t make a bit of difference to anyone’s testosterone level. Looking back at some Hollywood-version of the way white men in the movies used to behave won’t make anyone today more responsible, more confident, or more fit to live life as a man on this planet. It didn’t work well for men then, and would be even worse for men today.