Brands Get All Emotional For Father’s Day

Brands have always seen the power of emotional advertising to the mothers of the world. Just take a look at the ads from this year’s Mother’s Day and you’ll see what I mean. But recently more and more advertisers are starting to use the same strategies to appeal to dads’ sensitive sides.

With Father’s Day around the corner, we’re starting to see an uptick of these emotional ads, with dad at the center of the plot line. Dove Men+Care may have started this new “dadvertising” trend last year. Its Father’s Day spot premiered on Monday showcasing real life men finding out that they will become fathers.

Dove’s heart-warming spot is not the first time the skin care company has tried to put fathers in touch with their feelings. Most recently Dove released its ‘#RealStrength’ campaign during the Super Bowl featuring a montage of fatherly moments that range from the sublimely adorable to the genuinely touching.

Also no stranger to dadvertising, Toyota also jumped on this trend last week by releasing a spot on its channels in Japan featuring the relationship between a father and daughter over the years, told from both perspectives.

Angel Soft took a different approach this year and put mom center stage by wishing all the single mothers out there a Happy Father’s Day. Through interviews with grown children, the company celebrates mothers who had to juggle both being a mother and a father.

Playing with a double entendre (it’s an ad for toilet tissue after all), “some days she had to be softer” and “some days she had to be stronger”, Angel Soft created a highly emotional ad utilizing feelings of warmth, happiness and sadness.

Advertisers are recognizing that the role of dads have changed. Long are the days where Al Bundy and Homer Simpson accurately capture the modern dad. These days, dads are happy to get involved and brands recognize that by appealing to an involved, more-emotional father.

During this year’s Super Bowl, brands embraced this new form of dadvertising with open arms. Nissan, Toyota and Dove Men all chose to celebrate the role of fathers in their advertising. The main TV spots told poignant and heart-warming stories about fatherhood, and the theme also lent itself well to online amplification.

So while you’re toasting dear old dad this weekend, remember that he has an emotional side too.

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