There is an advert on TV showing women caressing naked babies and kissing their bottoms. If that advert featured men there would be numerous complaints of indecency. Why is it that such actions are okay for women but not for men?

I personally don't see anything indecent about it. Babies need physical displays of love and attention, but men can provide this just as much as women can. The only thing wrong with the advert is that it appears to reflect a level sexism.

I also noticed that in the advert where a young boy is being shown yoyo tricks by an elderly gent, they added a woman in the final scene, standing watching over them. Why the expense of an extra actress? Maybe to avert fears that this boy would be indanger from the man? As if Ian Brady didn't have a woman accomplice.

In subtle ways, television promotes the rather paranoid view that no man can be trusted.

very good points, Emma.

It also amuses me how in adverts for beer, cider etc they usually feature at least 3 men, never too in case people think they're gay.

Of course gay men never drink beer.

signed, a beer drinking gay man.

I agree adverts do perpetuate stereotypes that beer is for burly working class men. I think it's ridiculous to assume that if two men are drinking together, that they are gay, and even if they were would it make the beer taste worse. I suppose the idea of advertisting is to associate an image with a certain product. Magners is a fine example. They take a mediocre cider and fill it with ice and people have the idea that it's a refreshing beverage rather than an overpriced tasteless drink.

All very good points on this thread Magners is tasteless get more joy of a bottle of White Star for £1.45. It annoys me with women cosmetics adverts they use models/actresses that are too young to have have wrinkles.

I like to see a advert with two blokes talking in a pub just like Smith and Jones.

Advertising on TV is all lies. Nothing is ever as good as they "claim"

In fact true luxury products and things are never advertised on TV because they dont need to be.

Pressing standby during the adverts actually is a good idea these days. It means you can free the mind before the next part of the programme without it being invaded by subliminal messages about products that you dont need.

Never watched a tv ad in years since the arival of Sky Plus. I tend to pause the channed for 5 minutes then catch up when the dreaded commercials start. Problem solved.

I always watch the adverts because they pay for the programmes. As someone who works in the broadcasting industry, I'm acutely aware of how important they are. Things like sky+ and the internet are ruining the tv industry and the value of advertisements is increasingly diminishing and thus the budget of tv companies.

Just like men. I try to make a serious point and you turn it into a discussion about beer.

I used to watch the adverts a lot because some were quite entertaining. Now there is the Meerkat advert and maybe one or two others which are worth watching. Most modern adverts are desperately boring, so no surprise that people switch them off.

Fair enough but given the choice, i'm sure most folks outwith the industry your in, would happily fast forward through them.

Two things have reduced my TV viewing. One is poor standard of programming, and the other is the option of DVDs, especially the TV show box sets.

I have never once bought anything due to seeing it advertised on TV.

I was my girlfriend for a pregancy scan yesterday. And on the waiting room table was magazines and leaflets for pregant women but nothing for Fathers to read or study. Today went to see midwife and excatly the same problem. I could not read something with a title called Mother & Baby or Pregancy & Birth.

Why do waiting rooms have magazines etc that go back a year or two ?

It is a serious point you have raised Emma, and it is dissapointing no man here seems to have taken it seriously.

Pedohysteria is directed at men, and apart from harming innocent men, it has the knock on effect of harming children and young people who grow up lacking male authority role models in schools and elsewhere.

I also object to the constant portrayal of men as stupid and neanderthal on television. A recent oven pride advert had the catch - 'so stupid even a man could do it'.

So stupid is a society that lets it's young boys turn into a ferral underclass.