All it takes to be a doormat, eat Kellogg’s!

The other day I was channel surfing when I saw a rather miffed looking Tisca Chopra in an ad, looking most harassed and ready to take the kitchen cleaver to her rather incompetent spouse who was whining from the bedroom about his socks. Having been in the situation where the spouse whines about articles of clothing and is dealt with, depending on hormonal levels and PMS factors, either efficiently, or with a quick and efficient biting off of his head so he never dares repeat said offense, the ad struck a chord. And it struck hard.
The product was a digestive bran based breakfast cereal. And the tagline, Andar Se Khush, toh Bahar Se Khush. And the implication, that because we women are so constipated we don’t have the capability of doing perfectly reasonable tasks like helping a fully grown man find his socks with a smile. And probably, they would have us serve up them socks on a silver salver on a bed of rose petals while we’re at it.
Obviously, the grouchy faced hubby who returns home in the evening tugging at his tie knot, and snarling at everyone in sight does not require his intestines cleared out. No sir. The man of the house will bark and snap as he pleases, but dare a woman even show irritation at being called on to find a pair of socks, ah well, it’s that time of the month was bad enough, and now they’ve gone and added, she’s probably all choked up and needs to crap.
The TVC. Crap I say.
As crappy as the Husband’s Choice Oil which is the embodiment of the governing principle in all current cooking oil advertising that only men have heart attacks we women should worry about, it doesn’t matter if we keep keeling over and dying, clutching our chests in agony, because they don’t make healthy cooking oils for us. Only for our husbands. Or the other ad, which has two friends at a dinner with their respective husbands with one friend fish out Pond’s Age Miracle to tell the other one she must use it to prevent her husband losing interest in her. I don’t see anyone telling said husband he better get that paunch tucked in or the Mrs is going to be looking around at the hotter men on the periphery in true Cougar Town style.
What are the messages our advertising gives us? Care to think about what these ads are putting into our heads. Is this the women we wanted to become? Is this the true picture of the women we are? As for me, I’m not buying either this Kellogg’s Bran whatever, nor the Kellogg’s K whatever. Oh yes, I am taking this rather personally. And my spouse finds his own damn socks.