Big news! Women spend most of the household income, actually, so the advertisers are taking advantage of their general contempt for "hubby." Nothing new there. Similar ads have been around since TV got started.
"Dufus Dad" is the most common role in advertising, unless you're selling beer or pickup trucks.
which is what I don't understand. I'm a married woman, I do most of the shopping for my husband and me, but I don't find the suggestion that my DH is a moron who needs me to constantly clean up his mistakes appealing at all. I have a hard time believing most married women like the idea that their husband is an idiot. If that's true, then our society is in serious trouble.
It isn't just advertising - it's also TV shows that revel in the portrayal of fathers as stupid. Even shows that are otherwise family-friendly, like "Everybody Loves Raymond" engage in this stereotype. It's a very troubling trend, because these TV shows do influence children. When I was a middle-schooler in the early 90s, I oftened mimicked the smart-ass kids I saw on TV who were always much wittier than their hapless parents, especially their fathers. The TV shows portrayed these kids as cool and I wanted to be cool too. Luckily my parents had zero tolerance for such disrespect and I quickly learned not to imitate the TV kids. Unfortunately, not all parents care as much about their kids, and it's quite worrying to think about how much influence anti-father TV shows and ads have on these children.
This has been a stock caricature since the 50's.
The helpless bumbling father trying to be what John Wayne told him a man should be but always falling short. His family that takes in stride his feeble bursts of patriarchal assertiveness, knowing that beneath it all is helpless 'Pop'.