Apparently there are at least some marketers who are changing the way they portray men in their ads.  I've been commenting about this for years...maybe this insulting marketing trend is finally gonna die out?

No more bumbling Homer: Marketers are reframing dad ads

Buying into corporate America’s depiction of men, and dads in particular, one would be pretty sure they’re mostly lazy, dense dimwits with whom only Homer Simpson could bond.

Clearly, at least as portrayed in many TV ads, most dads wouldn’t be loved, or even liked, by their wives or kids –– except when they want a withdrawal from his wallet.

But some marketers are starting to see the light. Take Kansas City-based Hallmark Cards Inc., which after talking to real people has expanded its selection of Father’s Day cards depicting dads in more loving and appreciated ways.

One new card shows a dad bending over, tying his son’s shoe while he leans on dad for support. “A man is loved not for how tall he stands, but for how often he bends to help, comfort, and teach.”

Hallmark isn’t losing its sense of humor, and retains cards like the one with an elephant nudging his young calf: “Nobody can give you love and straighten your lazy butt out at the same time like Dad.”

And it still has cards for those who want to tell dad he’s a doofus, including a sound card with Homer Simpson telling Bart a long, pointless “when-I-was-a-boy” story.

“In the past, Father’s Day was sort of ‘they play golf and take out the trash’ — this is just an attempt really to recognize what they do and being affectionate without making fun of them,” said Hallmark spokeswoman Deidre Parkes.

Glenn Sacks, a sometimes controversial commentator focused on men’s issues, applauds Hallmark for its efforts, and says others, including AT&T, Pampers and Cheerios, have also made strides in their depiction of men.

Sacks has mounted a number of crusades, including one against a Verizon commercial in which a wife berates her husband to quit bothering their daughter, who’s doing homework, telling him to “go wash the dog.”

Sacks said he thinks men have become the butt of marketing jokes because it’s a cheap, easy way out for companies and their ad agencies.

“Marketers have found it’s a lot easier to portray men as foolish,” Sacks said.

If marketers depicted women as brainless bimbos, he said, there would be hell to pay.

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