The Most Annoying Trope in the Commercial World

As a dude who has no children, it's a little outside my comfort zone to comment on this phenomenon (and perhaps it is outside the realm of matters of which I should comment), but as a human being who pays attention to these things, I find the below type of commercial (a) is common; (b) pisses me off every time I see it; and (c) gives me an excuse to tiptoe back into the world of analyzing and criticizing TV commercials, something I kind of like doing.

I THINK this commercial is intended to be funny, so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and say that the people who created it made the innocent mistake of telling an unfunny joke.  That aside, it's certainly possible that the process which generated this commercial started like this:

1. Advertising agency for Dish (or Dish itself) commissioned focus groups to determine a value proposition for its new "Hopper" device;
2. Said focus groups demonstrated that as part of the value proposition for the product, some subset of potential users or users mention offhand that on a tablet in the car, kids can watch videos and be quiet;
3. Some idiot decided this would demonstrate a potential commercial demonstrating the value in this product in keeping children quiet in the car.

The problem with this commercial, in my opinion, lies somewhere in the intersection of (2) and (3).  It's a very simple, Market Research 101-level lesson that what people say in a focus group may or may not apply to their feelings toward the actual world.  In blind focus group taste tests conducted in 1985, for instance, New Coke kicked the living shit out of the original formula.  But did New Coke work in the marketplace?  No, because customers were annoyed that the original formula of Coca-Cola went away.  The number one rule of business is DON'T PISS OFF THE CONSUMER.

But maybe you like this commercial.  (I personally don't like this kangaroo or the change in the Dish ad campaign - my personal preference would be to see the Irish Catholic family from South Boston hide under their bed in every Dish "Hopper" commercial, but hey, that's just me.)  If you do like this commercial, and if you happen to be a parent, you may want to consider whether you love your children enough to tolerate this kind of ad campaign.

Here's why:

• It's predicated on the idea that your children are terrible, you can't control them, and therefore you need their product to keep them satisfied: For all I know, this is true.  (I refer you to the first paragraph of this post.)  But I can only hope that one day when I am a parent, I'm competent and confident enough to be like F*** YOU, DISH, I CAN KEEP MY CHILDREN CALM BY MYSELF.  If you're reading this, you probably feel the same way as well.
• It's terribly executed: Why doesn't the mom in this commercial pull over to the side of the road and give their kids a serious talking to (at the bare minimum)?  Since this is a commercial and isn't actually real, why do people who are parents not complain when they see blatantly awful parenting displayed in a commercial?  If I were a parent, this would at a bare minimum turn me off to the product.
• No one (I know, at least) who is a parent feels this negatively about their kids: My guess is this commercial is designed, on some level, to tap into the feeling of helplessness some parents feel at times regarding their kids.  It's well accepted in academic circles that (most) negative emotions do not lead people to purchase products more often, so this is a bad idea on a theoretical level as well as a common sense one.  I'll focus mainly on the common sense, as I am no longer an emotion researcher: DON'T PISS OFF THE CONSUMER.  I'm sorry if you've heard that before, but it's pretty obvious that the association a parent might make upon watching this commercial is: (a) my children are better behaved than this; (b) therefore, I do not need the Hopper.
• It's kinda sexist: Note that commercials in the "helpless parent with shitty-ass children" trope rarely show TWO parents in the same place.  For instance:

This is a somewhat better execution of a TV commercial, relative to the Hopper above, as it keeps the viewer engaged throughout and the reveal is actually sort of funny.  But it, too, is kinda sexist - in a more traditional direction, relative to most commercials in this trope - because it implies that men are comically helpless with regard to keeping their children in line.

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What am I getting at here?  We are now well-ensconced in the 21st century, and anyone who has children in this country (*NOTE: Fundamentalist Christians aside) did so as a matter of choice.  No one FORCED you to procreate - and as a result of this, no one really wants to hear you bitch and moan about your children misbehaving or being out of control.  Also, people without kids may want to purchase a "Hopper," and seeing commercials like the above only makes them think, well, this product clearly isn't for me.

I see commercials like the above fading away over time, because consumers (my age, at least) are turned off by the whole complaining about kids thing.  We don't like it on Facebook, and we don't like it on TV either.  If you want to demonstrate need for a "Hopper," show a happy family on vacation catching up on the TV shows they can't watch at home (with their busy schedules).  Don't pick the easiest target; don't prey on negative emotions; and ultimately, don't insult the positive feelings many people have about their children.

Bad job, Dish.  Bad job, indeed.