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Dad Can Cook If you’ve been watching any amount of TV lately, you’ve no doubt seen Pizza Hut’s latest ad campaign. We have your typical American fantasy family of a mom, a dad, a boy, and a girl. The kids in this rendition appear to be in junior high. Mom is bringing them home from soccer and whatever other wholesome activities, young teens do after school, parking her trendy SUV in front of her gargantuan house. She’s dressed for the office, looking as though she’s just wrapped a billion-dollar deal. Our three “typical” family members head for the house as Daughter frets, “Dad’s cooking dinner tonight?” “Don’t worry,” Mom replies, her brow furrowed with concern, “Dad can cook.” Pause. “I think.” As the three enter the kitchen, Dad leans back with a smug grin, revealing the best dental work money can buy, and spreads his arms to reveal the Pizza Hut Family Meal Deal sitting on the table. There is rapture among his brood as they all sit happily to the table. “Can I cook, or can’t I?” Dad says as the commercial concludes. You wouldn’t know it from the dress or the SUV or the interior of the house in that commercial, but apparently we’re still stuck in the 1950’s. God only knows what the hell Mom was doing outside the house, but she clearly left her family in danger. Who would (gasp!) dare allow a man to cook? Listen, in case the good folks at Pepsi Co. (which owns Pizza Hut) and their ad agency haven’t noticed, it’s 2007. Every guy I know can cook. (Well, actually, I can think of one or two exceptions, and they deserve frequent mockery for it.) Some are better than others, but we all know our way around the kitchen and don’t cause our families to go running for the nearest Pizza Hut at the barest mention of our making dinner. Do we really need to perpetuate this myth any longer? If we’re comfortable with allowing women in the workplace, can’t we feel okay with letting men in the kitchen? There’s nothing wrong with ordering out for pizza instead of making dinner at home after a hard day. But do we have to imply that unless Mom has to time to cook this is the only option for gastro-intestinal safety? It would have been a simple matter to recast the plot of the commercial with Dad deciding to order out, because it was late, everyone was tired, and no one felt like cooking. That would have been a stronger message for Pizza Hut – “Let us help you out when life gets too hard,” rather than, “If your dad has to cook you better hope this is what he does.” It’s time to grow up, America. Those fantasies of Dad going to work while Mom cares for the house and the two children (one boy, one girl) growing up with idyllic smiles on their faces are relics of our parents’ childhood. Real life is much more interesting. After all, who would have believed men could cook?
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