Happy Father's Day, from our friends at Kraft

This is the first of two posts I’ll be providing looking at Kraft’s new “precocious kids v. parents” ad campaign. They are pretty similar, but also different enough to deserve two posts- besides, it’s June and it’s hot and my summer vacation (I’m a High School teacher) is getting underway and I’ve got two weddings to attend in the next two weekends, so I’ll take easy gigs where I can get them...

In this ad, we return to the theme which is to ad agencies the bread and butter of the industry- overly intelligent, mouthy little brat and fat doofus slob dad. It’s SO familiar, in fact, that we “get it” before any words are spoken- there’s the kid facing the camera with way-too-serious look on her face. In the background, there’s dad hovering over a pot of simmering Heart Attack holding a wooden spoon. What comes next could NOT be more predictable (and no, that isn’t a challenge, ad agencies.)

Like all tv children, this one is thoroughly disgusted with her father, who can’t stop adding his personal spittle to the family dinner by constantly dipping the germ factory ladle into the pot of orange “cheese” and macaroni. Like all tv fathers, he’s a fat slob who has no idea he’s being panned by his offspring.

The final line- “dad, you’re embarrassing yourself” is a little more harsh than usual for these “let’s pick on the fat male in the room” ads, but not shockingly so. But here’s what I find particularly unsettling– just a few years ago, this could have been shrugged off as a “kid saying out loud what she’s thinking” slice of life. Today, it’s entirely possible that this little creep has activated her laptop’s camera and is filming the next episode of “My Fat Disgusting Father” for YouTube, and that dad really is embarrassing himself- in front of the whole, voyeristic, insane “privacy? what’s that?” modern world.

All that being said- that’s one nasty little creep you’re raising there, Dad. Time to have the “Daddy makes the money, Daddy buys the Mac and Cheese, Daddy skims off the top and is nice enough to share what’s left with Daughter” talk. And fast.