Advertisements play a huge role in everyday life, they influence what people wear, what they eat, and even the brand of diapers new moms purchase. Diaper commercials appear innocent and even cute, but some deep down is sexists and shame moms for not using the “correct” brand of diapers. Huggies and Luvs diaper commercials rely on stereotypes, sounds, and pathos to effectively market their product to new moms.
There are many stereotypes surrounding first-time moms, many marketing companies use stereotypes to their advantage. The Huggies commercial appears sexist. The commercial only showed moms and female nurses cuddling up to newborn babies. Fathers and male nurses were nowhere to be found anywhere in the commercial. Huggies assumes that females typically do the shopping when it comes to baby essentials such as diapers. For example, Huggies assumes that if a mom views this commercial she will see herself in that commercial and will need to purchase Huggies diapers that will allow her and her baby to be happy and healthy. On the other hand, the luvs commercial uses the stereotype that new moms are overwhelmed, and often make mistakes. The luvs commercial shows a new-time mom that appears in distress along with a baby that is also in distress. The commercial then fast forwards to the same mom with her second child and they are both happy all because they are using Luvs diapers. This strategy used by Luvs tells new moms that to be laid back that they need Luvs diapers for their baby to be happy. Both commercials focus on sexist stereotypes of mothers to persuade viewers that their product is the best.
In addition, both commercials use sound to set the tone of the message the companies are trying to convey. Huggies uses a soft lullaby during the entirety of the commercial to complement the calm scenes that are taking place. While the Luvs commercial includes many different noises including a crying baby and an upbeat jingle at the end of the commercial. The reason for both commercials using sound is to make them more memorable, for example, the Huggies commercial uses a catchy song with a soft beat and lyrics that are easy for anyone to sing along to. After the viewer watches the commercial a few times the song will get stuck in the viewer’s head thus creating a connection to the song and the brand Huggies, this connection makes the viewer more likely to buy Huggies the next time they go shopping. Luvs on the other hand use a mixture of sounds and catchy elevator music. The sound of a crying baby is not a pleasant one, especially to parents, and Luvs uses this unpleasant sound to show the viewers that babies that are not wearing Luv’s diapers are unhappy, and no parent wants an unhappy baby. This sound also causes the viewer to make a connection to Luvs, therefore the next time their child cries they will believe it is because they have the wrong brand of diapers, therefore, prompting the parents to go and purchase Luv’s diapers. Music serves an overall purpose in both commercials to make them both memorable and unique in their way.
In addition to stereotypes and sounds each commercial appeals to pathos. The Huggies commercial uses a more loving, heartfelt moment between mother and child to take control of new time moms. New mothers’ hormones are completely out of the ordinary after having a child, and Huggies takes this to their advantage, because what mother does not want that perfect bond with their child. Luvs on the other hand take a different approach to pathos by making new mothers aware of their mistakes and shaming them for it and overall making fun of how protective new time mothers can be. The use of scare tactics sells the product because no mother wants to be “that mother” that has no idea what she is doing. The overall use of pathos in, h commercials pushes mothers to second guess their choices in what products are truly best for their children by appealing to their emotions.
Overall both commercials use their platform successfully in persuading mothers on which brand of diapers are the best, through the use of stereotypes, sound, and pathos. Both commercials exhibit a great deal of sexism by solely focusing on mothers and ignoring fathers the majority of the time, but between the two brands of diapers, Luvs exhibits progress by including a father in the commercial, and by making the content of the commercial somewhat relatable to new time parents.
