The Marriott's TV commercial "anti-woman with baby on a plane"

[Rosa Luxemburg]

You've probably seen it but I saw this Marriott (courtyard) TV commercial today and I was shocked. The commercial shows a male traveler in an aisle seat on a plane. A woman with an infant in a front carrier and diaper bag struggle to get past him and sits down next to him. He doesn't get up or offer to help her and looks perturbed, especially when the baby later cries. Then there's a series of scenes where the person is relaxing in a Marriott Hotel (not having to put up with 'that' - the woman and crying baby).

I think the Marriott has offended women. I will not ever stay in a Marriott hotel and I will tell other people not to.

[name not needed]

1. oh god here we go again

[JustAnotherGen]

2. It didn't offend me

And I'm a woman.

Would it have been acceptable if it had been a business woman being portrayed by the male actor with the same mother/child actors?


Here's something I do that might be construed as judgmental or discriminatory. I travel. I'm VERY well traveled both for leisure and work - and quite a bit of international travel. If I don't have a ticket on a high mileage airline, and have to stand in the general security line . . . I look for the portal without children and old people. Because I know I'm going to have a longer wait at Newark Airport if I have to deal with it.

Business women and heck - even honeymooners sometimes want peace and quiet on a plane. If it was a woman - she might have helped with the bag - but no waaaaaaaaay am I touching a strangers small child. The child gets bumped, hurt in your arms when people are acting like animals and you are liable and you get sued . . . No way.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

8. High time travelers will get it, others will not. Marriott's target audience is business travelers

BTDT...I used to hate the start of summer and all the travel amateurs...

[JustAnotherGen]

10. Exactly

And I honestly (especially when I was a manufacturer's road warrior) would select Marriot properties because I knew precisely how the room was going to be - didn't matter if it was a Fairfield, a Courtyard, etc. etc.


And at the 'travel amateurs'! So true! So true!

[avebury]

27. Travel Amateurs are not restricted to just

summer time, they are just more prevalent at that time of year (outside of school breaks).

[broiles]

35. I can't believe how ugly and unsympathetic everyone here is.

If I wasn't already boycotting Marriott, I would just because of this commercial. Everyone thinking of their own comfort and not about the poor woman who has to tote that kid and bags and have an inside seat. Why didn't that bastard step out into the aisle to make it easier for her? Why didn't he offer to place the bag in the overhead for her? What an inconsiderate slob. When ever I see a woman traveling alone with a tiny baby, I try to see what I can do to make it a bit easier, even if it's just a smile and a look of sympathy. I am a frequent flyer but I haven't lost my humanity.

[JustAnotherGen]

49. Hey

I have Ankylosing Spondylitis - I don't have the "obvious" disability. I've had families with small children basically run me over because after a few hours on a plane my right hip locks and the cabin pressure compresses my spine. Especially on connecting flights - I might not get up to help because my arm and thigh muscles have weakened on the last flight. I've also had mothers get pissed because I went into the disabled stall on layovers - when the reality is I need the bar to get up . . . And they don't. Why - more room for them to bring their child in with them - but it's not a diehard necessity.

But that said - I go up to security with my shoes off and IPad out I make sure to wear slip on shoes, and clothes that don't require me to button or zipper. Especially during a flare - it irritates people when I'm struggling. Or walking slow. Or when a family has to get up so I can get into my window seat - because I physically can't climb over her holding the 3 month old.

Just experiences I've had with the Mommy Mafia.

[mercuryblues]

3. was she

breast feeding, while eating Olive Garden takeout?

[murielm99]

5. She was eating chicken with that

coating on it. Ummmm...cornflakes?

[hifiguy]

4. . . .

[mangermerdeRWfreaks]

6. As a frequent Air Traveler this commercial is aimed at me

would I stay at Marriott, nope because of their ties to the LDS Church, but if I did not have a personal boycott of Marriott it would make me more inclined to stay in one if they guaranteed child free floors.

I am waiting for the child free airline and would GLADLY pay higher fares to travel without annoying kids getting in the way.

I think there is a market for childfree travel as there is a market for airlines that cater to kids and family.

[Cleita]

31. I think airlines are overlooking a market of parents with kids and

family friendly flights. They should take a page from some of the cruise lines, like Holland American, who make a point of keeping the kids and parents separate from the rest of the adult passengers, who may not be so delighted with the family groups.

[mangermerdeRWfreaks]

36. I still would not book passage on Holland America

Cruise Ships are small and the first screaming kid I heard over the side it would go.

Yes I am one of THOSE as is the wife who does not like kids, especially on vacation and yes we pay top dollar to stay in places and go to places that are not child friendly. For many screaming kids is the equivalent of nails on a chalk board.

If it were up to me all kids in public would have to wear ball gags.

[Cleita]

41. I traveled a lot when I was a child between the ages of eighteen months and eighteen

years old. I did planes (pre-jet age), trains and ships none of which I had a choice about. My parents said I was going and I went. I often traveled alone on an airplane from the age of eight. They put a tag on my coat and turned me over to the stewardesses to nanny me and other children traveling alone. I'm sure many other passengers were annoyed with me.

My first airplane trip, between Chile and Panama, was on a DC-3 with no pressurized cabin. Mercifully, I was too young (18 Mos.) to remember but my mom told me all I did was roll on the aisle screaming because of the pain in my ears. It seems the other passengers were sympathetic. They hated to see a child suffer, but you see that was in 1941 and it was the Greatest Generation, who were the adults then. Truthfully, they were not selfish and self-involved as later generations have proved to be. They were kind. My mother also needed that kindness because she was at her wits end.

I can't get upset with crying babies on airplanes. I remember how I felt and I can sympathize. However, by the time I was eighteen, I was such a seasoned traveler I never got seasick or airsick. I sometimes found myself helping out. Once on a ship when even the doctor was seasick and he used me to help him to deliver medicine to other sea sick passengers and another time during a particularly turbulent crossing of the Andes in a prop plane when even the stewardesses couldn't stand up from the air sickness, I helped distribute barf bags to the other sick passengers. So I did have my moments of usefulness to make up for probably whatever annoyance I might have caused other passengers over the years.

[alcibiades_mystery]

48. Cleita: Don't try to reason with an asshole, or worse, as here, somebody PROUD of being an asshole

Just sayin'.

[benld74]

7. Can I have your Marriott points you have up till now?

[Rosa Luxemburg]

9. A flurry of Marriott-lovers I see!

[JustAnotherGen]

12. Yep

And as a single woman traveling alone by car - I always felt 'safe' in those properties.

Granted my mom has always been with a competitor (she rebranded Radisson a few years ago, started in the Hilton line in the 1970's - was VP of a Management company, etc. etc. ) but her insider view . . . if my daughter is traveling alone know what I 'know goes on in hotels' I want her in a high profile chain that has locks on their doors at night.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

14. Is that the best cheap shot you can come up with?

There are several major categories of travelers out there, one of which are business/professionals. Those are the most sought after travelers for both airlines and hotels. Ads that appeal to that most lucrative market segment are going to play to their pet peeves. Babies on airplanes is one of them.

It could have been Hyatt, Hilton, or other higher end chain. I was/am a Hilton person myself, but I understand the ad and the targeting. About the only chain I see advertising for families is Motel Six. From what I hear, they will leave the light on for you.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

17. It's all for the lucrative market and the big businessmen?

Next time they could use something else.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

21. Actually the Fed/State/Local government puts a lot of people in that class of hotel

Marriott/Hyatt/Hilton/etc have government rates for just that reason, exactly at the max hotel for the area on the Federal tables for that year. They are not big businessmen, most are middle class and many are minorities and women.

Business/government traveler often do not have choices in most cases as to where they go and when. Business hotels cater to their needs. This is scarcely new or surprising. Family hotels target a different demographic and most business travelers shun them for obvious reasons.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

22. Word is targeting

you are missing the point they should not use the woman and baby in the ad. As you say they are targeting

[ProgressiveProfessor]

24. What other negative event would you suggest they use?

That would have equivalent resonance with the demographic they want to attract?

[Drunken Irishman]

28. That or people who just don't feel the need to get offended by everything they see on TV.

[cthulu2016]

11. Is this OP a joke of some sort?

Perhaps Marriott's "A crying baby in every room" slogan wasn't working out and they decided to change their approach.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

16. I think the OP is actually upset that they don't qualify for the concierge level at Marriott

Seriously, business targeting their advertising at a specific demographic is scarcely new.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

18. It's not new it's just tasteless

[librechik]

13. After you are trapped on Screaming Baby Airline, relax at the child-free Marriott?

tip o the hat to Stephanie Miller-- and kids stay free at the Marriott!


yes, it's over the top. Women w children are not the target demo for Marriott Business.

[Daemonaquila]

15. Hey, I'm a woman who will stay at Marriott BECAUSE of this commercial.

I'm not offended. Not one bit. That guy on the plane looking perturbed at the woman with the baby? That's me. I don't do crying babies, and I don't really care if some other woman is dealing with a shrieking monster or misbehaving toddler on the same plane with me - I just want it to stop.

You presume a lot to speak for all women, as if we all feel the same way about childbirth, child rearing, kids, and the "plight" of other women who have made a choice to reproduce and raise a child. If I bring an animal on the plane, others reasonably expect that I'll take care of it, keep it under control, and not let it ruin their trip by making noise, stinking up the cabin, or running loose. If I can do that with an animal, parents can do that with their kids. There's nothing shameful about Marriott depicting the reality of airline travel. It would've been fabulous if they'd put a woman in the male traveler's place, though, so that it would be more difficult for people to make the claim that it's pure sexism.

[vanlassie]

29. Daemonaquila? Will you give your mom a ring and find

out how she kept YOU quiet, and smell free? No fair claiming she just stayed in the house with you until you were whatever age is acceptable to business class folks, either!

[Daemonaquila]

43. Easy.

My parents had enough class to not put me on a plane or in another tightly packed space like that until I was old enough to know how to behave.

My sis in law used a great tactic when she did fly with her babies. She got a babysitter to keep them awake all night, then took a nonstop and fed them as soon as she boarded. Passed out babies were a mercy for all.

[vanlassie]

45. Ah. So she never had a family emergency like maye her mother across country having a sudden brain

hemorrhage and she was told she might never see her again if she didn't come NOW and her husband was overseas and so she grabbed her child and WENT, hoping for the compassion of strangers to somehow help her make it to her connections even though she knew it was going to be a nightmare?

[avebury]

32. Totally agree.

I have not seen the commercial but, as a woman, it would not even come close to offending me. There is nothing worse then being stuck thousands of feet in the air with 1) screaming kids; 2) kids who treat the airplane like their personal playroom (running laps solo or chasing one another), kicking your seat, and so on. I in no way am inferring that all children are bad travelers because many are totally fine, but the screaming children or misbehaving children are hell to be around on a plane.

[MadrasT]

42. Right there with you.

I'm a woman road warrior, keep the kids away from me.

Also a loyal Hilton customer, sorry Marriott,

[GoneOffShore]

19. Marriot's are owned by Mormon's - another reason not to stay there.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

20. especially that Romney served on the board of directors of Marriott

http://www.barackobama.com/truth-team/entry/four-ways-romney-helped-marriott-avoid-paying-taxes/

[HopeHoops]

23. That's royally disgusting.

[Tikki]

25. Think the commercial is more about crying babies on a plane...not so much the mother...

When our grandson was 10 mos. old the mother walked out and left our son to raise this
little guy on his own.
Dad traveled for business and took the little guy along a few times.
He was the parent with a diaper bag and crying baby on a plane.

I am sure when the mom on the plane, in the commercial, reached her destination
both she and baby were glad to be somewhere they could kick back and relax at, also.


Tikki

[d_b]

26. lol

[still_one]

30. I disagree. It is not anti-women. I suspect a business person of any gender could identify with

Business traveller

and the fact is things like that happen

No one is saying kids or families should be banned, just presenting the hassles of travel

[bluestate10]

33. I was not offended.

I travel enough that I have seen it all. Mostly I see fools with over-stuffed carry-ons that should have been checked. Airlines finally got tired of that shit and started putting an end to it.

BTW. The woman with the baby could have been considerate and explain that she needed an isle seat when ordering her ticket or checking in. Courtesy is a two-way street.

[Sedona]

34. Mother of three and frequent traveler not at all offended.

Honestly when raising three of my own I did all my leisure travel by car when they were little because I didn't want to be trapped on an airplane with a screaming kid to bother others (and more importantly bothering me) I was free to pull the car over and fix whatever was causing my kids' distress and then move along. Besides whether its one or five people, we all got there on the same amount of gas.

99% of the time I am traveling alone and Marriott and especially Courtyard is my choice, with or without the LDS. Courtyards are safe, CLEAN and secure, I can get a drink or a snack or a meal or a swim, and Marriott has the most generous frequent traveler beanies. The one in El Segundo near LAX is THE BEST! I feel right at home. A free week once a year in Maui rocks my world!

Just sayin'

PS the frequent traveler message boards have another name for amateur travelers....... "Ma & Pa Kettle" DO NOT get trapped behind them at the TSA. Oy!

Edited for spell check goof

[Demoiselle]

37. They could use other annoying fellow-passenger cliches, too...

Like the schlub who doesn't get that you really don't want to talk....or the one who cheerfully gets as drunk as possible.. Or the person who has body-boundary issues and hogs the entire armrest for the entire flight.
What annoys me is that Marriott is posing a false contrast...It's a whole lot easier to relax in a hotel restaurant/lounge/bedroom than it is to get comfy sharing the teeny spaces of a steerage class airline cabin.
I have found that most of the mothers with small babies with whom I have traveled have been very concerned about not making a ruckus. Of course it helps if the crew is smart enough to put travelers with infants in the bulkhead seats as well.

[lumberjack_jeff]

38. Business travel ranks somewhere between miserable and torture.

Torture is when a crying baby is next to you.

The noise is designed to get on our nerves so parents will do something about whatever discomfort the baby is experiencing. Unfortunately;
a) there's little the parent can do to fix the source of the baby's discomfort
b) the non-parents can't get away from it.

[HappyMe]

39. I wasn't at all offended.

I thought it portrayed what the hassles of traveling are pretty well.

I don't see anything wrong with relaxing in your crying baby free hotel room.

We usually stay in a Marriott or Holiday Inn. The Marriotts are always clean and are very secure. We stayed in an Extended Stay Marriott for 3 months when we moved out East. It was great. The people that worked there were very helpful and kind.

[Quantess]

40. Airplane flights are not the most delightful time to meet a baby.

Felllow travelers aren't obligated to feel delight when they fly with babies.

That said, I have not seen the commercial, so I don't know how bad it was.

[DollarBillHines]

44. I do not stay at Marriotts any longer, but

that premise is the major reason why I also no longer fly Coach.

[lynne]

46. LOL! They offended "women"? No, they offended you.

I'm a woman and I'm not offended. If I'd been sitting next to a crying baby during a long flight, I'd gladly take any silence and relaxation offered via a hotel, Marriott or otherwise. Yes, and I'm a mother. And a grandmother.

Life's too short to go around being offended by the small innocent stuff.

[WillowTree]

47. I never cease to be amazed at how many people really get off on being outraged.

Chill a bit, Rosa, and stop looking for something to be offended at under every rock. You'll live longer.