I tend to be pretty cynical when it comes to the motivations of marketers. Do I think that Tide and Downy see the male market as an emerging one? -Perhaps, but I'm more inclined to believe that what Downey and Tide have done is to give their target demographic a glimpse of what they think they envision as their ideal.

I'll admit, I don't do any of my daughters laundry but I do make her meals, change her diapers, sing with her, play with her and take her to the park and the museum, give her baths, read to her, put her to bed etc. Point is, I'm a very involved father and partner with my wife. But my wife does my daughters laundry, I don't think she would ever like me to do it either. She's a perfectionist and has her way of doing it. -this mostly involves the "folding" part.

I do all of my own laundry though but I just use whatever products my wife prefers. I would guess that there aren't a lot of fathers out there that have a say in which laundry detergent they use. Are they out there? Yes. Is their number growing? I'd bet it is. Is it a quickly enough growing segment, so big they will tailor a marketing campaign towards them? I doubt it.

While I think that the household duties are definitely changing and more fathers are stay-at-home dads (I know a few) This ad is still meant for women imo. But I could be wrong in their motivations. -I hope I am.

I have to say, I think my wife would go nuts being a stay at home wife and I would go nuts being a stay at home dad. It's a hard balance, but we manage.