Julie Steinberg

November 6, 2014
C&T 5037
Critical Reading Paper
The No-Quit Picker-Upper
Bounty Paper Towel Commercial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTBoE1wuln4

In this commercial, frequently aired across television stations, a little boy sits at
the kitchen table, blowing through a straw into his tall glass of chocolate milk, creating
big, overflowing bubbles. His little baby brother sits next to him, laughing and
exclaiming Again! Again! Mom watches, smiling, from over by the sink, where she is
washing dishes. The boy continues to blow bubbles, as milk spills all over the table and
drips to the floor. The narrator says, When were having this much fun, why quit? and
goes on to advertise the new Bounty paper towel which has no quit in it either.
Mom, still smiling, starts unraveling some paper towels, and begins to clean up the mess.
At the end of the commercial she leans down near the baby, who now has a tall glass of
chocolate milk of his own and is blowing bubbles into it, and says, Again.
The commercial clearly targets a specific group of people: moms. Not just any
moms, but young moms who see themselves as fun-loving and carefree, who just want
their kids to have fun, and will happily clean up a mess this fun may create. However,
thinking more critically about this text, and the layers of perspective, power, and
positioning (Jones), one might argue that the commercial targets an even more specific
mom and family. Embedded in Bountys commercial, there are powerful underlying
messages and invisible elements related to culture, power and literacy issues of gender,
race, and socio-economic status, in particular.
While I may not be the specific targeted audience, I do feel I have both privileged
perspectives as well as critical perspectives watching this commercial. I am from a white,
middle class family that always had food and special treats like chocolate milk available.
My kitchen was not quite as fancy as the one featured on the commercial, with its
sparkling clean island in the middle and a bookshelf filled with books in the background,

but we did have a homey kitchen with a central table at which my family could sit, eat,
and enjoy each other. I am not a parent, but I do teach young children, and value their
social interactions, explorative play and of course, happiness. Unlike many others, I could
be the kind of audience that could see my own family reflected in the commercial, as well
as my future life as a mother. However, while I may bring the white, middle class, female
privileges perspectives to my viewing of the commercial, I am very much able to see the
stereotypes and problematic elements the scene brings up. No matter how much I will
love my future children, I know that I would not be smiling, laughing, and inviting them
to make a mess with their food or drinks, that I will then clean up.
When considering perspective, power, positioning and literacy related to this text,
the first, perhaps most apparent issue of the text relates to gender. The Bounty
commercial is yet another cleaning product commercial featuring a mom, cleaning up
after her kids. She is young and fresh, wearing a clean white sweater, as she smiles,
stationed at the kitchen sink, already busy cleaning. The father, is nowhere in the picture
the privileged viewer might assume that he is at work. When the kids make a mess, the
mom happily grabs the paper towels, ready to clean up the spilled milk, rather than
asking the kids to take responsibility and clean it up themselves. By saying, Again
herself, she even encourages the kids to keep making the mess, because it is so much fun
for them to make, and no problem at all for her to clean up. Such play is fine, especially
because she has Bounty paper towels, which are so strong and will never quit.
The children making the mess are both boys an older brother entertaining his
little baby brother. It reminds me of the phrase boys will be boys, messy, silly,
carefree, immature. One might argue that girls would not be portrayed the same way, but

instead they would probably drink their chocolate milk nicely. The boys take no
responsibility for their mess, nor does Mom ask them to. Again, Dad is invisible in this
scene.
Another apparent issue within this commercial is race. The featured mom is
white, and her two sons are both white, similarly resembling her. Again, I bring a
privileged perspective in viewing the commercial in that my family resembles each other
in this way as well. At first I thought nothing of the casting choice. However, this
portrayal is not true for many families of mixed races and cultures and therefore
misrepresents many families. In this way the commercial not only targets a certain mom,
but a purposefully targets a certain family: an all-white family.
One of the most powerful underlying messages of the text was a distinction of
socio-economic status. While I grew up in a home that always had plenty of food special
treats like chocolate milk available available, we were never encouraged to waste. In her
chapter, Poverty: Living Lives on the Margins, Jones discusses how commercials, and
television promote and privilege idealized versions of the American Life with
consumerism serving as one way to experience such a life, and describes the sprawling
suburban homes that I found to be depicted in the Bounty commercial (Jones). The mom
allows her children to simply play with the chocolate milk, as it spills all over the table
and floor, not minding at all that this is food being wasted. This is problematic when so
many families cannot afford food, especially what seems like a fun, maybe requested
snack, as there is no other food present on the table. In the big, spacious kitchen, there are
nice glasses, fun straws, and even a bookshelf in the background, reflecting a very
comfortable lifestyle. The beautiful kitchen and the wasted chocolate milk remind me of

the daily experiences and privileges that are so often taken for granted by those who have
these advantages (McIntosh).
Additionally, as the narrator points out, Bounty paper towels are chosen by this
mom because they are higher quality. Matters of cost are invisible in this commercial.
The commercial even includes a comparison demonstration between Bounty towels and
the leading ordinary paper towel, referring to the less expensive, or generic brand. The
other brand might be more affordable, but will not fit such a familys needs. This
distinction made could contribute to the stigma of being poor which Jones explains is
a discriminatory one often catapulted by the global market, compulsive consumerism,
and materialism in the states (Jones). In this scene, the mother and children are
somewhat, as McIntosh describes, conditioned into oblivion about the existence of
privilege (McIntosh). The chocolate milk as a toy, that can be played with and wasted, is
actually a privilege some can enjoy and others do not.
Some viewers, and even many moms, probably saw the commercial and thought
to themselves, how cute. I may have thought the same during my first view. But when
I searched for the commercial to revisit and think about it more critically, I came across
some other viewers strong reactions. Not surprisingly, I found some reactions from
moms and other women of outrage and anger. Commenters called the kids brats and
criticized Bounty for depicting moms as loving to clean. One mom featured by a
Huffington Post blog, shared my opinions exactly as she expressed her thoughts: OK,
really? What moms out there are excited to get down on the linoleum floor and deal with
a mess like that? What moms encourage their little ones to actively spill everywhere
because it's just so darn fun to clean up? She goes on to add, I'd rather pick up the

newspaper than pick up their mess from the floor, no matter how quick. I thought it was
so interesting to hear a New York City mother of three, a person Bounty probably hopes
to target, speak out as offended and turned off by the message of the advertisement.
Bounty may think white, middle class women will see their own kitchens and their own
happy children and smile and nod, relating to the familiar scene, but instead many are
offended and angry to be generalized and portrayed in such a way. One could call it a
single story of mothers. Interestingly, these are the people who have the literacies
and discourse to access this text, the commercial. Also misrepresented are men, women
of diverse races, and families from a range of economic statuses.
Critically reading a text like the Bounty commercial allowed me to deconstruct it
to see issues of perspective, positioning and power, which tap into categories of gender,
race, and socio-economic status. As Jones discusses, The text is never simply as it lies in
front of us, there are always [multiple] perspectives outside the frame that have not been
included (Jones). Considering perspectives, that of my own and others who watch this
commercial, I think about who can actually relate to and is drawn to this commercial and
who is invisible, disregarded, or utterly offended. Considering positioning and power, I
questioned Bounty as the author how they exercised power in this text to produce
positions and perspectives (Jones). By placing generalized, misrepresentative ideas of
female, white, middle or higher class values at the center of the commercial, Bounty is
marginalizing and devaluing all other gender, races, and classes, as well depicting a
single story of the represented viewer. By showing a mom happily watching her children
make a mess, Bounty gives power to a stereotypical mom who finds happiness in
cleaning up after her children, as long as she has strong enough paper towels.

As I deconstructed the Bounty commercial, I became very aware of the

importance of critical reading, as a frame for thinking planning and enacting (Jones).
By critically reading myself, considering perspective, positioning and power in this text, I
can see the implications such a practice has for teachers. If literacy is a social and cultural
construct (Bloome and Enciso), then with our children, we must reshape literacy practices
to deconstruct the power and perspectives that exist and reconstruct them including
multiple perspectives, cultures, and identities. Bloome and Enciso remind us that
participation in shaping literacies becomes even more important than acquiring
literacies (Bloome and Enciso). By engaging in critical literacy and constructing
literacy practices together, we can shift to an idea that the identities of others matter
(Willis). Teachers and children together can then truly value the cultures, identities and
move towards more powerful and equitable pedagogy.

References

Bloome, D. and Enciso, P. Looking out across Columbus: What we mean by multiple
literacies. Theory into Practice, 45 (4) (2007).

Jones, Stephanie. Poverty: Living Lives on the Margins. and Critical Literacy: A
Frame for Thinking, Planning and Enacting. Girls, Social Class and Literacy:
What teachers can do to make a difference. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann (2006).

Mark, Dana. Bounty Ad is Super Offensive to Moms. The Blog: Huffington Post.
(March 31, 2014).

McIntosh, Peggy. White Privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack. Peace and
Freedom, 49. (1988).

Willis, A. Focus on research: Historical considerations. Language Arts. (1997).