Axe Deodorant and Disney Cars

My favorite image from Kid Power this year was Wynne Tyree's picture of a tween boy's dresser. It answers the question, "what is a tween boy?" Answer: he's halfling ricocheting between boyhood and lady's man. The Disney Cars in the center of his dresser, he tried to hide from the photographer. He proudly displayed the Axe.

Daddy vs. Mommy sales effect

At the 2007 Youth Marketing Mega Event, two intriguing pieces of information made me crinkle my brow:

1. Wynne Tyree of Smarty Pants talked about DADS' influence on practically all the electronics purchases in the home.

2. The next morning Steve Knox of P&G's Tremor, shared a case history in which they tested a separate message to MOMS along with their normal "trend spreader" teens to sell an MP3 player.

The effect was to raise sales 300%--much higher than the 75% garnered by the teen message alone.

Assuming that Wynne is right (as I do), what's happening here? Are the Moms asking the Dads for advice? Cluing them in? Any theories?