This weekend, I posted a blog about the USAA “Thank You Daddy” TV ad, mentioning how the montage of children thanking their fathers for serving in the military – particularly the young children – tugged at my heart strings.
A comment was made about this blog which you might not have seen, so I am posting it below:
Andthe Man Wins Again I am a female veteran, having served 2 combattours of duty. I have also served 2 separate peace keeping missions.I have sacrified years away from my home and family. The statisticsare 14.6% of all active duty are female; 17.9% of allreserve/national guard are female; there are 1,853,690+ (yes 1.8+million) female veterans. Women have been in the United StatesMilitary since inception. How about a “Thank you Mommy” inthe commercial? Why does it always default to dad? And the man winsagain
I don\’t know who actually put up this comment; I only have a screen name to show you. But the commenter is absolutely correct.
Women – a great many of them – have served with distinction in our military, including the daughter of dear friends of ours. There is no good reason for this not to have been acknowledged in the ad.
Why wasn\’t at least one “thank you mommy” there?
I have to admit the above comment has put a crimp in my enjoyment of that ad – as it should have. I hope USAA\’s future ads do the right thing and include both women and men. In fact, I wouldn\’t be troubled in the least by a “Thank You Mommy” version featuring all women.
USAA? How about stepping up to the plate.
======================================================
UPDATE: I am delighted to report that I just got this message from USAA:
USAA Ken, thank you for taking the time to bring this to our attention and for sharing your thoughts with us. We value the contributions of every servicemember and our commercial was intended to show our appreciation for their service and sacrifice. We have listened to your feedback and are releasing a new version of the ad this fall. As always, we appreciate your honesty and value your input. – Mike
If my blog has contributed to the fair treatment of women – who are an absolutely invaluable resource in our armed forces – I could not be prouder!
And thanks again to the commenter who pointed this out to me!!!!
