Evidently, men's testosterone levels have been dropping, and so have sales of khaki pants. Coincidence? Dockers thinks not.

Dockers, the clothing manufacturer that once put the "casual" in casual Fridays, sees a connection-at least the kind you can use to fuel an ad campaign. They're planning to reverse society's terrible double trend by teaching today's men how to be men and how to dress with a slogan that flirts with being sexist: "Wear the Pants."

"It's time to answer the call of manhood," proclaims one of the new ads. It's nice to know that answering the call of manhood no longer has to involve winning at arm-wrestling when all you have to do is buy more khakis from Dockers.

Manning up has never been simpler.

The campaign debuted in early December, and the roll-out will include print, TV and billboards, plus a return to airtime during the Holy Grail of manly-man spectaculars: the Superbowl.




Here's the full "Man-ifesto" posted on the Dockers website:

"Once upon a time, men wore the pants, and wore them well. Women rarely had to open doors and little old ladies never crossed the street alone. Men took charge because that's what they did. But somewhere along the way, the world decided it no longer needed men."

Oh, goodie! A return to the grand old days when women weren't allowed to vote! It also sounds suspiciously like the successful media campaign after World War II that sought to convince women that it was more feminine (not to mention patriotic) to give up their jobs to men returning from war, and go back to doing more womanly things, like vacuuming the rug.

Just because the Docker ads are tongue in cheek does not mean they're not sexist. It's one thing to encourage men to man up, another to tell them to "wear the pants" -- an expression that taps directly into the old question: "Who wears the pants in this family?" There are only two possible answers: the man of the house, or the woman who has been stealing his thunder. "Wear the pants" is a call to arms, even when used jokingly, that says the only way to be a man is to put women in their place. That's right, women are too weak to open doors for themselves!