If you monitor the advertising, marketing, branding and packaging of products and services as much as we do, you’ll find that one phrase seems to pop up more than any other:  mom-trusted.

Sometimes the term is mom-approved, but either way, it’s there.

Without reading the minds of those marketing departments and having privy to internal documents, let’s carefully discuss why mom-trusted is so often the choice of expression.

Companies often think:

“Mom is smarter”

A perception exists that mom is the smarter parent, or the one instinctually versed to take care of the family.

Much of this is fueled by our entertainment world, who likes to place dad in the role of bumbling comic relief.  We all know those characters who have made dad look less-than-flattering:  Homer Simpson, Al Bundy, Phil Dunphy, Fred Flintstone and Clark Griswald.  You can even find this odd-ball personality in comics like Blondie and Berenstain Bears.  Sure, we can all find the humor in those characters, but beside nearly every one is a mom that’s the voice of reason and the sensibility, while dad needs to be corrected like a child and put down for his absurdity.  This pattern of stereotype has created a perception that pervades societal behavior.

Just look at this video by What’s Up Moms, which, despite its clever dad-ingenuity, is tainted by a terribly degrading title and includes a departing mom asking her husband, “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”

Would anyone ever create a video titled, “Mom’s First Time Alone With Baby”?

Not in a million years.

“Mom is the one who handles shopping”

Even if mom works – and they do in greater numbers than ever before – there’s still a belief that she predominantly tackles the shopping.  Let’s be real:  dads shop, and companies who believe otherwise are missing out on the realities of dads’ spending power.  We’ve debunked a lot of misconceptions and analyzed why it’s important to market to dad in this post.

“Mom is the decision-maker.”

Parenting is a shared responsibility in today’s world, be it health care, schooling, or sports leagues.  Dads are more involved than ever, and there’s a large, vocal SAHD community with heavy untapped potential.  Do you think those dads like being told they’re not in charge, or at least not equally in charge?

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Seeing repeated use of mom-trusted leaves dads out of the mix, and ignores them as equal parents.  Employing a gender-neutral term like parent-trusted extends equivalent due, and doesn’t make sexist implications in either direction.

A good relationship is based on trust, and if companies want to maximize gains, it’s high time they start letting their mission and principles guide what they do, and embrace everyone equally.