With the rise of dual-income households, there’s a lot more delegating when it comes to household responsibilities. It’s no shocker than that Dads do a lot more of the family shopping at the grocery store— in fact, quite a few of them do. Dads, especially Millennials, are participating more in the upbringing of their children, and according to Pew research, fathers are doing more housework and more childcare than they did 50 years ago.
Brands tend to target Moms when it comes to groceries and household goods. This includes the latest packaging for Coco Pops in the UK, where after they reduced the amount of sugar in their cereal, they needed to revise the box with a prominent banner on the front reading “Improved recipe. Loved by kids. Improved by mums.”
While decreasing sugar in a kids’ cereal is virtuous, some fathers didn’t appreciate the snub. One group, Fathers 4 Justice, staged protests in stores: dumping Coco Pops and milk in the supermarket aisles.
Matt O’Connor, the founder of Fathers 4 Justice, said “This is cereal discrimination by Kellogg’s who have dumped dads. Now we’re going to dump Coco Pops.”
“This father-free cereal sends a sexist, dangerous and father-phobic message that dads are irrelevant in the lives of their children,” O’Connor adds.
Kellogg’s quickly responded, saying through a spokesperson and on Twitter that, they’ll be changing the phrase “Approved by mum” to be inclusive of dads as well.
The family dynamic is not what it once was, and fathers are more involved around the home, it’s time for brands to adapt and appeal to the modern dad.
