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.
Whatever Medela is paying the people who handle its marketing and communications – it’s not enough.
So if there was ever a company that could be excused for playing the dad omission card (not that it’s ever right), Medela would be it. But they don’t stoop to that inappropriate level – they include dads on its 
But then you have some products which seem to bemuse our perception, products which have been marketed for so long, positioned in such a convincing way and aimed at a certain audience that we’ve come to believe its use was envisioned strictly for one gender.
A brief reflection upon its own history and founding – and a glance at its own latest ad – may encourage Boppy to return to its roots. Check out the bottom of this ad, where Boppy describes four of its product’s core uses, none of which have to do exclusively with moms (while physical breastfeeding does, general feeding – the word used in the ad – doesn’t).
When a child starts playing sports, parents will do everything imaginable to be a part of that child’s team. Whether it’s organizing a booster club, volunteering at the concession stand, providing snacks, coaching, or simply cheering loudly from the stands, parents love to get actively involved.
After more than a week of social media outcry concerning a misguided Father’s Day t-shirt, retailer Old Navy has finally pulled the item from its shelves. News of the removal was first reported by the National At-Home Dad Network.
Consumers everywhere have demanded a response from Old Navy, but so far it has remained markedly quiet. Attempts to reach an Old Navy spokesperson have gone unanswered.
Just when you think it’s safe in June – the month when dad gets his deserving due and eventual one day in the sun – retail company Old Navy drums up yet another t-shirt controversy to undermine dads in one cotton-polyester-blend swoop.
It’s a nice breath of fresh air when someone isn’t afraid to show a dad in a nurturing, or dare we say, snuggly position. But that’s exactly the case with Arm’s Reach, who does what’s unfortunately the unthinkable for so many baby product companies – placing a baby carrier on dad.
a less-than-flattering light while simultaneously making a mockery of fathers 
It would’ve been great to be a fly on the wall when the male model (featured in this ad) got the call from his talent agent to appear in this Similac magazine ad:
In a move that can only be classified as ground-breaking and revolutionary, Jif Peanut Butter has removed its long-standing slogan – “Choosy Moms Choose Jif” – from its website, jif.com.
It’s ironic how there are some who admonish dads for their lack of parental involvement, and some who spend their time furthering that notion through advertising.
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