hs
 
 

 Campaign in
the News

Father Knows Best?
 CBS News Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood (6/19/05)

This Year Daddy Began a Comeback
 Riverside Press-Enterprise (6/19/05)

Don't Throw Rocks at Him, He's not Stupid
 Billboard Radio Monitor (6/3/05) 

Men Are Becoming the Ad Target of the Gender Sneer
 New York Times (1/28/05)

Dad's in Charge in New TV Ads
 Fox News (1/10/05)

Dadhood is Not for Dummies
 Star Beacon (11/24/04)

Why I Launched the Campaign Against Verizon's Anti-Father Ad
Pasadena Star-News & Affiliated Papers (11/18/04)
Daily Breeze [Los Angeles] (11/19/04), Cybercast News Service (11/23/04)

WHAT'S IN A DAME
Thankful to be Able to Touch a Nerve
 Arkansas Democrat Gazette (11/23/04)

Father Knows Best’? More like ‘Hop on Pop
 Canton Repository (11/20/04)

Editorial: Dads Portrayed as Second Class but Verizon Protestors Overreacted 
 Omaha World-Herald(11/18/04)

WHAT’S IN A DAME : Dads just latest fools in TV ads; ask women 
Arkansas Democrat Gazette (11/16/04) 

Mad at Madison Avenue 
Seattle Times [Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News] (11/15/04)

Blogger King Instapundit Expresses Sympathy for Campaign
(11/15/04)

Dad has an image problem
 Tribune Chronicle (11/13/04)

Chill Pops
 PBS Journal Editorial Report (11/12/04)

Dad is not a dolt, say US men's groups
Mail & Guardian [South Africa] (11/12/04)

Glenn Discusses Verizon Campaign on The Big Dave Show on KARN AM 920 in Little Rock, Arkansas
 (11/12/04)

PC Doesn't Stand for Personal Computer Spokane Spokesman-Review (11/11/04)

Glenn Discusses Verizon Campaign on the Charles Goyette Show in Phoenix
 (11/11/04)

Verizon Ad Insults Fathers 
Family News in Focus(11/11/04)

Verizon Commercial Draws Parents' Ire United Press International (11/10/04)

Glenn Discusses Verizon Campaign on ABC Radio Network with Daria Albinger
 (11/10/04)

Glenn Discusses Verizon Campaign on Sinclair Broadcasting Network

Activists Protest TV Ad Mocking Father
Associated Press (11/9/04)

"We've all seen them--TV ads featuring dear ol' dad as a bumbling fool"
Broadcast News (11/9/04)

Glenn Discusses Verizon Campaign on the Dori Munson Show on KIRO AM 710 in Seattle
(11/9/04)

'Anti-Male' Marketing Prompts Complaints
 Cybercast News Service  (11/9/04)

Glenn Discusses Verizon Campaign on the Focus on the Family Radio Network
 (11/9/04)

Verizon Bombarded By Protests Over Anti-Father Ad
 MND Newswire (11/9/04)

'Anti-Male' Marketing Prompts Complaints
Town Hall (11/9/04)

 

 Mental Health Professionals Endorse Campaign

The undersigned believe that Verizon’s “Homework” television commercial helps to perpetuate a negative and counterproductive stereotype of fathers and their interactions with their children.

We respectfully request that Verizon reconsider this advertisement.

Sally Broessel
Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor
Campbellsville, KY

Robert J. Brothers II, M.S.
Psychotherapist
Ypsilanti, MI

Laurie A. Couture, M.Ed., LMHC
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Counselor
Dover, NH

Dominic D'Urzo
Marriage and Family Therapist, Psychotherapist
Toronto, Canada

Jay Essif
Licensed Psychologist
Lancaster, PA

Scott Haltzman, MD
Psychiatrist and Marriage Therapist
Barrington, RI

Andrew Wyeth Hatfield
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Evansville, Indiana

Marilyn Hawkins-Walls, B.S.H.S.
Child Visitation Monitor
Venice, California

Gary Hornfeld
Licensed Marital & Family Therapist
Saginaw, MI

Dr. Stephen Johnson
Marriage & Family Therapist
Beverly Hills, CA

Wayne M. Levine, M.A.
Counselor
Agoura Hills, CA

Jayne A. Major, Ph.D.
 Executive Director
Breakthrough Parenting Services
Los Angeles, CA

Dewey Meyers, MD., PhD.
Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist
Fairfax, CA

Dr. Linda Nielsen
Professor of Adolescent Psychology & Women's Studies
Wake Forest University
Winston Salem, NC

Shari Schreiber, M.A.
Counselor
Los Angeles, CA

Reena Sommer, Ph.D.
Therapist
Winnipeg, Canada

Henry A. Tenenbaum, Ph.D.
School Psycyhologist
Sarasota, FL

Mark D. Thomas, MA
Marriage and Family Therapist
Syracuse, NY

Gary Ventimiglia, Ph.D, MFT
Psychoanalyst
Marriage & Family Therapist
Northridge, CA

Michelle Ventimiglia, MA
Early Childhood Educator
Northridge, CA
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

His Side Campaign Against Anti-Father Verizon 'Homework' Commercial

Update: Verizon Hears Us

Verizon has informed His Side listeners and supporters that the "Homework" ad which was the subject of our protest will no longer be aired. We commend Verizon for understanding our concerns. It is our hope that, given the extensive publicity and support our campaign has received, Verizon and other companies will keep these concerns in mind when planning future advertising campaigns. Thanks to the thousands of you who called and wrote Verizon.

Best Wishes,
Glenn Sacks

Read Glenn's Column "Why I Launched the Campaign Against Verizon's Anti-Father Ad"

The His Side Campaign Against Verzion's Anti-Father 'Homework' ad was covered by over 300 media outlets, including CNN, Fox News, ABC, NBC, CBS, Sinclair Broadcasting, USA Today, the Associated Press, UPI, the Boston Globe, Newsday, the U.K. Guardian and others.
 

Glenn's Call to Action from 11/7 Broadcast:

"I recently received an interesting letter from a His Side listener—a Texas grandma named Betty Barker. Betty writes:

Dear Glenn:

I was very busy on your campaign against the 'Boys are Stupid' T-shirts earlier this year.

I want to call your attention to a new commercial for Verizon DSL. They have a little girl of about eight working at a computer. Her dad is looking over her shoulder, looking slightly amazed. He says something silly like, 'That's like an encyclopedia thing.'

The child says, 'It IS an encyclopedia' and in a look which could kill, looks at her mother as if to say 'get this idiot out of here.'

The mother is standing in the doorway and tells the father to go wash the dog. He says he’s helping his

Mental Health Professionals Endorse
His Side Campaign >>
His Side Campaign in the News >>
.

Audio / Video / Action
View Verizon Commercial
(Windows Media Video - 338KB)

Listen to Glenn's Call to Action
 (MP3 format - 559KB)

To download Windows Media Player, click here.
daughter with her homework and stays. The mother snaps "Leave her alone!" and, when he again hesitates, she yells at him. The father is humiliated and walks away looking like a whipped puppy.

It really made me furious when I saw it. I called Verizon Corporate offices and asked for Ms. Jerri DeVard, who is the VP in charge of marketing. Her secretary was a bulldog and finally gave me to Melinda Johnson who is in Executive Customer services.

I asked her if she thought Verizon would ever make the same commercial with the roles reversed and she said that she was quite sure that they would not.

She told me that they had not received a public outcry over the ad. I assured her that there would be, because I would be contacting you. She was not familiar with you so I gave her a brief clue in, and told her about your previous successful campaigns and all the media attention the campaigns received. I told her I was sure she would be well acquainted with you shortly.

I sure hope you look into this. Thanks for all you do.

Sincerely,
Betty Barker


Well, grandma I can’t turn down an offer like that, and yes, you are right, Verizon will very shortly be acquainted with us.

Now I don’t think Verizon means any harm--I'm sure they’re decent people but they've developed the moral blind spot I've talked about many times on this show--the moral blind spot towards disparaging males.

A mountain of research shows how indispensable fathers are to their children's well-being--not just their income, but their presence, their fathering--not their mothering, their fathering. It is tremendously damaging to convince a boy or girl that his or her father is an idiot or that fathers are worthless.

I have a daughter around the age of the girl in the commercial and I dispute the idea--the idea!--that because I'm male my love for my daughter and my son is somehow cheaper, lesser, not as good, not up to par, not as important. I'm angered over the way fathers have been vilified over the past three decades.

I dispute the idea that my father, and the fathers of his generation, who worked so hard to support their families and take care of their children, I dispute the idea that they are somehow lesser, that it's OK to dismiss our fathers, denigrate our fathers, disregard our fathers, disrespect our fathers.

I want all of you to act. The listeners to this show have worked miracles in the past. We drove 'Boys are Stupid' products out of 3,500 stores worldwide--95% of their total distribution--earlier this year, and we made headlines around the world doing it.

Last summer over 2,000 of our supporters bombarded Sacramento with calls and letters and we were instrumental in killing SB 730, a bill which would have given custodial mothers the unlimited right to move our children whenever and wherever they want to. Everybody said we would lose that campaign, and everybody was wrong. And last month we helped Michigan fathers activists defeat an anti-father billboard campaign in that state.

I call this Verizon ad the 'Leave Her Alone!' commercial.  Verizon calls it 'The Elliots: Homework.'   I want all of you to write and call Verizon and tell them you want them to withdraw the 'Leave Her Alone!' commercial. I want you to bombard them with protests. Be polite, but let them know exactly how you feel.

All the information on how to email and call Verizon is below. Thank you for your support and activism."

--Glenn Sacks