According to a segment on the Today Show Tuesday, the new status symbol for primary breadwinning women is their stay-at-home-dad counterpart.  Go figure.  My husband has been at home with our daughter for the past 12 years and I haven't once thought about him that way.  I'm not sure I do now.  And neither do the Janes who participated in our #AdReview discussion.

The fact that men have lost their jobs at a 3:1 ration in this recession led some women to comment that staying home is really just an outcome of the "mancession," not really a status seeking choice.  Others said that in some families the choice has less to do with status and more to do with family sanity--dad is simply the better choice to stay home.  That is certainly the case for our family.  My husband is better at home than I am. 

The article indicates there are 143,000 SAHD in America.  I would venture to guess that number is even higher.  And it suggests a new shift in how companies relate to families.  In my case, dad does most of the grocery shopping and the laundry.  If a brand wants to get our attention, they better get to my husband--and not with any stereotypical male or female stuff.  Get to the value equation...fast.  Why should he buy your product?  Will it make his job easier?  Better?  Cheaper?  Hey, wait...that's the very same points we women want, too.  Hmm.

Status symbol or not, roles are shifting in society--sometimes by choice, others by circumstance.  Stereotyping has always been a bad strategy.  Now its just downright  dangerous.  A brand that doesn't truly know who its audience is and why they buy (or don't) will get left behind by those who do get it.

For a fun look at the life of dads, visit our video section for a great video sent to me by a fellow Jane.