April 1, 2005
Procter & Gamble
1 Procter & Gamble Plaza
Cincinnati, OH 45202
To the Marketing Director:
I am writing this letter to suggest a new approach to your cleaning product commercials. Something that is very evident to me is that 99% of your commercials show women cleaning. Yes, women do a lot of cleaning, but it is not only women who must clean. First of all, women do not clean because they love it, or because a cleaning rag is attached to a female born child. Women have been doing most of the cleaning over the years because we have been stuck doing it. I know this sounds negative, and it is not a personal attack, but I feel that cleaning commercials, not just the ones advertising your products, are a bit on the sexist side. They seem to reinforce the idea that cleaning and maintaining a household is woman's work, which as I stated, cleaning is not part of the “female gene” and we are not “natural” cleaners just because we were born female. Mostly women did the cleaning over the years because men went out to work, while women raised children at home, so of course they cleaned if they were at home, and had to clean up after their children.
In this day and age, a lot of women are not stay at home Mom's, and they go out to work, or do not have kids at all and go out to work. Some women in fact spend very little time at home. They are not spending all day at home cleaning. Also, you are seeing more and more stay at home Dad's, and men are increasingly helping out with housework. I know that the Swifer has commercials with men doing some cleaning, and I find them humorous because it seems the message is that it's so easy, even a man can do it.
My suggestion is to include more commercials with men doing the cleaning. I feel that your commercials are a little out of date, very traditional. Why not have men cleaning? First, it would appeal to the men who are helping out with the housework, and it would be a nice change, something new to spice it up. And it does not have to have the same message as the Swifer, that even men can do it because it is so easy, but simply, that men DO do housework. Honestly, I would think that seeing a man in a cleaning advertisement doing and acting the same way the women in your commercials do would be very entertaining and interesting to see. I think in fact a lot of women would appreciate it.
I also think that if you introduced more men into your commercials, it would help give children a better perspective about the sharing of household tasks. I know that children do not pay much attention to these commercials, but what is on television, including advertisements, do affect children and those watching them. Boys and girls alike should know that helping to keep their home clean is a shared effort.
I hope you take my ideas into consideration. Thank you.
Sincerely,
A. Jeffrey
