Verizon commercial draws parents' ire

Verizon DSL's new commercial showing a father trying, but failing, to help his daughter with her homework apparently isn't sitting well with parents.

The "Homework" commercial drew calls and e-mails from about a thousand angry parents and grandparents who said the ad denigrates them, the Men's News Daily reported.

In the commercial, the daughter looks to her mother to get her father to leave. The mother tells the father to go wash the dog, commands him to "leave her alone," and then yells at him when he is slow to comply, the report said.

The protest campaign was started by nationally-syndicated radio talk show host Glenn Sacks, host of "His Side with Glenn Sacks," the report said.

Sacks told his listeners he "doesn't think Verizon means any harm" but that "like many... they have developed...a moral blind spot towards disparaging males."

"Research shows how indispensable fathers are to their children's well-being ... it is tremendously damaging to convince kids that their father is an idiot or that fathers are worthless," he said.

© Copyright 2004 by United Press International