“Dad Proof” Family Vacations

Not a day goes by that I don’t get at least half a dozen PR pitches addressed to “Dear Blogger” asking me to “share this with your readers” no matter how terribly uninteresting or inappropriate for dads said information may be.

Some of the pitches that have received the most scorn and disdain from me started arriving around Mother’s Day. For the record, the Father’s Day stuff was no better, but at least some companies, like RedEnvelope, managed to rise above the fray.

I’ve done my best to withhold my snark for the most part and merely delete these emails as they arrive. However, on Wednesday I received a pitch with a subject line so confusing I was compelled to read it, rather than mark it for immediate execution.

A “Dad Proof” family weekend getaway with [Brands X and Y] at [Some Hotel]

Dad proof? What in the name of all that is holy does that mean?

A quick excerpt from the full email:

Hello PJ!

I hope you are well. I am thrilled to finally announce a “dad proof” family weekend getaway: [Event Name Redacted] presented by [Brands X & Y] held at the [Some Hotel], Palm Springs on [Some Date].
…
Please find the invite and additional information below with pictures from the previous [Event Name Still Redacted] event. We would love for Real Men Drive Mini Vans to share this event with its amazing dad readers. Please let me know your thoughts as I would love to discuss the event further with you.

I’ll give them credit for actually addressing me by my name and including the title of my blog, but there is still a major disconnect. So, unlike 99% of the other emails I receive, I chose to respond:

[PR Professional],

Thank you for your email. I am really curious to know what exactly you mean by “dad proof”.

It’s been more than a day since I replied with nary a response. Apparently this person didn’t really want to “discuss the event further” with me.

However, I would like to discuss this further. I really want to know exactly what they meant by a “dad proof” event? Because how I interpreted it based on the full text of the email was that this was a family vacation so well planned that even a dad couldn’t screw it up.

All I could wonder if these people were the same ones responsible for the GEICO caveman campaign and they thought they were being funny? To check I went to visit their website, which curiously was still under construction.

Absent a response from them I can only continue to speculate. We’re they embarrassed by their slip or did they just not care that my initial impression was to be offended? Do they really believe that men and dads can’t be organized and skillful planners?

In my family if I don’t plan it, it doesn’t happen. As a matter of fact, and my wife will totally back me up on this, if I hadn’t planned out our entire wedding and reception we would have had pizza delivered to the church parking lot.

So, good people, what say you?  What do you think “dad proof” could mean?

And public relations people, keep doing what you do. I’ll be here to point out your mistakes, publicly.

This Great Moment in PR brought to you by the number “0” and the letter “D” for “Doh!”

Photo credit: jpopesku1 on Flickr