This Cream Cheese Ad Was Banned Because Of Terrible Dad Stereotypes

A Philadelphia cream cheese ad has been banned in Britain due to new advertising rules that prohibit reinforcing negative “dopey dad” stereotypes.

The ad features two new dads getting distracted and accidentally leaving their babies on a conveyor belt. The Advertising Standards Authority chose to ban the ad this week, noting that it “relied on the stereotype that men were unable to care for children as well as women and implied that the fathers had failed to look after the children properly because of their gender.”

Dads have long been lampooned in advertising as bumbling buffoons and while there has been a recent trend to present dads as slightly more competent, it’s not uncommon to see dads be the target of ridicule. In June, Britain’s ASA began rolling out new standards that would ban ads “which are likely to cause harm or serious or widespread offense.”

Here’s the ad:

A rep for Mondelez, the food and beverage company that owns Philadelphia Cream Cheese, disagreed with the ad being pulled. Here’s what his reps said to the Telegraph in June.

“It was never our intention to cause any offence with our new Philadelphia advert. We take our advertising responsibility very seriously and work with a range of partners to make sure our marketing meets and complies with UK regulation. This includes pre-approval from a recognized television advertising body before it is aired to the public.”

Could we see a similar type of regulation come to America? Hopefully but until then we’ll have to put up with dopey dads selling real dads all sorts of stuff.