Last week they posted this image with a misplaced apostrophe on it and I pounced:
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| Seriously with this? I really hate them. Or, I hate to LOVE them. |
They quickly took it down after I mentioned their mistake. But I saved it before they did. I've done this three times to them over the past few weeks. To my defense, a major sports franchise should not have such glaring errors in its social media campaign. So I am providing somewhat of a public service while making myself feel better. There is nothing I can do to make the team better. They are hopeless. But calling them out on their stupidity makes me happy. I admit this endeavor is totally immature, smug, and otherwise pointless. But I'm not going to stop.
Speaking of stupidity in a social media campaign, there is a lot of what some might describe as outrage over a foolish tweet that Playskool sent. A bunch of dads, moms, bloggers, and others are all a-twitter over this:
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| That's my friend John, from Daddy's IN CHARGE, with a nice ironic response at the bottom there. |
Moronic? Yes. Stupid? Yes. Misguided? Yes. But not offensive. Cmon, people.... offensive? Where Playskool and the Jets, among others I am sure, have gone wrong is hiring young people who may not know better when it comes to online marketing. (Even the social media for the tv news show I run is itself run by the youngest members of my team.) Most of the time their posts are innocent, innocuous, engaging. Sometimes, though, they're stupid and misguided. Aren't we all? This is one of those times. Let's not get mad when someone is stupid. Correct them. Even sympathize with them. If need be, do what I do with the Jets and mock them. I mean, the Vice President of the United States puts his foot in his mouth almost daily. That's just Joe. We've come to accept it and he's the VICE PRESIDENT.
I myself say stupid things that I wish I could take back. Don't we all? So please, put down your phones, torches, and pitchforks. Stop tweeting. No need for the angry mob calling for boycotts. Let's not burn Mr. Potato Head at the stake. Enough with the faux outrage when non-stories like this get blown out of proportion, causing dads throughout the blogosphere to rant about not getting their proper due in the parenting pantheon. While you're complaining and boycotting, your child is in the corner smearing his own poop all over himself. Ya might want to attend to that.
A lot of us bloggers think we need to use our platform for good. Specifically, to sing of the virtues of dad-dom and defend dads at all costs from offensive portrayals in ad campaigns or on twitter accounts. To prove what good dads we are. Whatever happened to just telling stories about raising our kids? Of singing their praises? Of joking about our failures and celebrating our triumphs? When did we as bloggers become the unofficial spokesmen for dads? For good dads? Because one could argue that being a dad blogger makes me a worse parent than non-bloggers. After all, as I write this, who's watching my daughter? The television? The iPad? The dog? Damned if I know. And there is that whole "putting our life on the internet for all the world to see" thing. So, I'm over the righteous indignation from the blogging community. We don't have all the answers. We just have smarta$$ responses in 140 characters or less. We're a bunch of guys with kids and keyboards.
Let's get back in the game and worry about what matters. Love our kids, as we so obviously do. That's it. They're the only ones who need to know we're doing a good job as a parent. Love them the best you can.
And by all means, mock the Jets. (Thank God I'm a Yankees fan.)
This was so blown out of proportion when Huff Post ran with the story. It's the American way to create controversy where none exists. I have a feeling that your employer does the same at times (although not on your watch I assume) we've turned into an overly sensitive bunch.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes feel I should be more outraged than I am sometimes, but I don't care enough. It was one tweet, not a whole campaign. We move on.
Bite your tongue re: my employer. They're monitoring this conversation.
DeleteYes...blown out of proportion
love this! "While you're complaining and boycotting, your child is in the corner smearing his own poop all over himself. Ya might want to attend to that" I could not have sait it better. I read about this non-event in my mind earlier in the week. Yes, I think it was a poorly worded tweet, no I am not burning Mr.Potato head at the stake. What ultimately matters is how we raise our children, not 140 characters or less out out there by a 20 something working for a toy company.
ReplyDelete*(in my mind) ack, grammar.
DeleteSee? I'm not the only one who hates grammatical mistakes. ;-)
DeleteAMEN!
ReplyDeleteWhile a boycott of all things Playskool is a bit drastic (and unrealistic for most people), I don't think the tweet — a corporate tweet from the brand itself — is completely innocent. There was no 'wink' or other SoMe indication of sarcasm. So for a company that is clearly aimed at families/kids, to be cynical of dad's role is misguided and perpetuates a stereotype that fails dads, moms and kids alike. Even in jest. They needed at least a SoMe tsk tsk.
ReplyDeleteA great post, though. Dads do need to step off the soap box once and a while and just let it slide. Being righteous doesn't help. You should also know, when you mentioned burning Mr Potato Head on the stake, my first thought was how awesome those french fries would be.
I didn't mean to imply that this tweet was innocent. I meant that MOST tweets are innocent, innocuous, or engaging. And that this one wasn't. It was stupid. I can see how the way I wrote that could be construed your way. But yes... bad tweet. SoMe often I think takes a back seat at places. (My own work included.)
DeleteAnyway... steak frites anyone?