Dove #RealMoms ad with transgender parent gets backlash and boycott threats

When I wrote about the Dove "RealMoms", I didn't hide that I thought the creative undermined its own point by including the transgender parent. The biological father who said, "we'll both be moms" with a giggle, while the biological mother wasn't even allowed a speaking part in an advert about mothers. Much like the silent fathers only glimpsed in images with the other couples. This person has now overshadowed everyone else in the commercial as the web reacted to the ad. Our twitter account @Adland was "unfollowed forever" and told to "sit down," which we neglected to do, due to what we wrote about the ad. Erik at Adweek's Agencyspy threw subtle shade at us quoting the line in the ad “Most people feel like they have a license to tell you what they think it means to be a good mom.” Heatstreet wrote about the reactions, and reported that conservative pundit Mark Dice had his facebook temporarily suspended for posting that the ad made him "need some Irish Spring to clean up my puke."

Hey @Facebook why'd you suspend me for saying a liberal TV commercial made me want to puke? #Discrimination pic.twitter.com/q3nd7US2o9

— Mark Dice (@MarkDice) April 15, 2017

While outlets like Teen Vogue and Bustle are positive about the ad, in places where there's open comments like at AOL there's pushback from the readers.

Dove's Youtube post of the ad has 3,277 dislikes to 400 likes, and comments were disabled the first day after people complained that all the negative comments were being deleted.

The uncensored reactions to the ad can be seen in the twitter replies to Dove and the hashtag, in between bots repeating positive news sources. You can read uncensored reactions on gendercritical radfem blogs or conservative pundit's outlets. That Dove managed to anger two such diametrically opposed groups is a feat in itself. There's no real dialogue on Facebok, as Mark Dice discovered posts like his are removed - while live streamed rapes and murders stay up because nobody reports that for "hate speech."

All the chatter around this Dove ad, whether positive or negative, centres around transgender Shea in the ad. A commercial that was meant to be about mothers became an ad about transgender, and in all of this earned media noise the product and sales pitch are impossible to find. It's Dove baby products. Ads that sell baby products usually center around the baby, because regardless of who is the stay at home parent and primary caregiver they all have one thing in common - they have for a moment in life become a very selfless being who is 24/7 looking after the most beautiful baby in the world. They are 100% focused on baby - and so are the ads. They would show perfect babies being happy with baby oil, face wipes, diapers, baths, soaps and whatever else babies were doing. My copywriter partner years ago, who was a father long before I became a mother, teared up at the sight of this ad. That's the target market for baby products, Dove. Parents.

When Dove removed the focus from the baby, to talk about mothers instead, they lost the target market's attention. And while they were at it, they offended tons of women. Clearly, someone at Dove Unilver HQ thought that their diverse array of moms was empowering somehow, but they all come off as defensive. Right out of the gate the breakdancing mom blurts the "license to tell you" line, and young Jazzie doesn't want to take the advice of the mothers who came before her, scoffing at the advice her great-grandmother gives. Rejecting free advice from people who have experience is so empowering, y'all.
Dove are working from research that says 72% of mothers question whether they are parenting right. Worrying if you are "parenting right" means you're parenting right. Dove added Shea for diversity points, claiming they're a same-sex couple and not a heterosexual couple because they don't know that transgender ideology does not support women, they were just checking off another "type" of woman on their checklist. "Asian? Check! Black? Check! What else do we need to fill the diversity quota?"

Like I stated in the first post, they showed women breaking free from gender roles of what a woman is, but then added a man who claimed womanhood when he broke free from his masculine gender role. That's a contradictory statement - because now you're basically saying that long hair and doting with babies = a woman. Noticing that reduction of womanhood to a hairstyle choice is not bigotry or transphobia.

Here are a few reactions from Twitter, and our post here is still gathering angered comments. My only question now is; how will Dove repair this gaffe? With 76% of moms saying their partner’s involvement helps them pursue what they love outside the family, and with 7 out of 10 dads describing themselves as highly involved one could see why Dove decided to focus on the mothers - but their execution seems defensive and to a large group of people, very offensive. Dove wants a piece of the baby care market, where Millennial moms spend on small brands and organic products. Will the target even remember that this is for baby care at this point?

PEPSI: augh. We made the biggest PR blunder ever.

UNITED: Watch this!

DOVE: Hold my beer #Realmoms

— Åsk Dabitch Wäppling (@dabitch) April 15, 2017

@dove Even radical feminists and lesbians hate your #realmoms ad becuz it silences a real mom in favor of a fake mom https://t.co/bHDroZWlng

— beyond partisan (@beyondpartisan) April 15, 2017

.@Dove @cwknews @ErikDOster @mombian @skjultster @BiologicalWMN @KaeleyT @drdina1 @fairplaywomen @FeministCurrent @MarkDice Complaints re @Dove's misleading transgender "#realmoms" ad can be made via FTC form https://t.co/4FpQNS0WXX Other/no match found. @Unilever pic.twitter.com/V9GlO02TEv

— TransgenderTruth(@TransgendrTruth) April 15, 2017

Transmom is a realmom but the single mom wasnt called realdad. How many millions of realmoms also play realdads?#realherosarewomen #Realmoms

— Professor XX (@professorasola) April 15, 2017

Dear @Dove. Your #realmoms ad violates FTC regulations b/c it's misleading. Men can't be mothers, even 'transgender' men who think they can. pic.twitter.com/iAFCaIATXs

— TransgenderTruth (@TransgendrTruth) April 15, 2017

Oh dear @Dove @DoveUK this little stunt has rather backfired on you as #RealMoms everywhere are appalled at this insult & erasure. https://t.co/BE4CEmi2CC

— DaisyDaisyXX (@NaturalAllWoman) April 15, 2017

I see Dove cowardly disabled commenting for the #RealMoms ad featuring a man pretending to be a mom. Glad to see way more downvotes than up.

— Carrie-Anne Brownian (@Anyechka) April 15, 2017

@adland with the most firmly, explicitly pro-woman message I've seen from an account w >100k followers... And they're not taking your shit https://t.co/KYCxXHgaPo

— jillian blogs (@pwmroundup) April 14, 2017

It has received positive responses on Twitter from Germany and Holland, however.

Liebe @dove_offiziell grossartig(!) #RealMoms Danke für die Sichtbarkeit der Familienvielfalt und Rollenmodelle, die Stereotype aufbrechen✨ https://t.co/Q2Un27egDR

— Maria von Känel (@MariaVonKaenel) April 15, 2017

Perfecte moeders bestaan niet. Duh. Maar goed, wel een fijne boodschap van Dove. https://t.co/y2n7vuB50h #RealMoms

— Nicole (@HetMoederfront) April 16, 2017

I'm even prouder to support the @dove #realmoms #realmums campaign, after having my eyes opened to the bigotry surrounding their trans mum. pic.twitter.com/gHGdHKbaju

— Harriet @ Toby&Roo (@tobyandroo) April 15, 2017