The Father’s Day advertising clutter this was the highest ever that I have seen. Fathers are not the most celebrated people in ad world. Brands are happier portraying single men in their narratives then Fathers. Fathers tend to make brands softer; Mom’s do the soft aspect better. Man as provider, mom as nurturer, leaves little space for father. Unless you are insurance that is, Fathers rule that category. There are really very few brands that have been built on father appeal. Yet this year many of those brands crossed over to other side, they did celebrate fatherhood.

Bigger question is this: Is there a brand out there, which did not celebrate Father’s Day this year?

How did the tradition come into being? Unlike a lot of days, which have been created by international bodies like UN, Father’s day has religious and parental underpinnings. There is no one fixed day for Father’s day. What we celebrated in India is the US date, and this day from US custom is all about celebrating fatherhood. What may have started as a day of societal celebration, 100 years later has become a full-blown marketing event.

This year Father’s day was all over. You could not escape the hyper-marketing of the day. It was on all the brand mails, all newspapers had many ads, it was all over social feeds, it was on radio stations, it was on malls, there were special menu on restaurants. No one wanted to miss the festivity.

Do I make it sound like Diwali?

Zomato had the wittiest email being sent out. Rarely will a email sent by a brand make it to social networks, Zomato’s did. Kids at Zomato sent out a mail offering a zero percent discount on the Father’s day, instead it wanted kids and fathers to sit down and have a meal. For once an online brand was not offering a discount.

The clutter of father’s day lead brands trying to differentiate hard from others.

Snapdeal released large ads across the country with hastag #FathersCanBeMomsToo. What could have been an interesting plank was eventually a simple ‘we have things for Fathers” ad.

Diametrically opposite was the Raymond Commercial that celebrates single mom as dads. #SalutingSingleMoms takes on the social media’s love for socially relevant messages and creates an enduring tale of child and mother bonding. The conversation thead on their feed does seem to indicate that not everyone has loved the ad, some people felt that the play on single mom as father was rather contrived. I like the non judgmental tonality of the brand, but it is a bit too advertising type and may be that takes away from the charm.

Myntra, Videocon, Google, Bank Bazaar, FoodPanda, IndiaBulls and many more climbed on the bandwagon to celebrate Father’s Day.

The problem is that persuasion economy can make dads feel incomplete and put performance pressure on them. There is a stereotype of dads in advertising: hardworking, forgetful, pressurized, learning to be softer, occasionally cooking and often socially challenged.

The real father’s day ads are outside the father’s day deluge of ads. The real father today does more than conventional stereotypical role. Vodafone did this brilliantly He actually takes his child to bus stand and drapes his dhoti for fancy dress, or rushes his little princess to washroom in strange city.

In reality, fatherhood appeals can be used and should be used beyond the blitzkrieg of Father’s Day. There are many interesting insights to explore