Gender based advertising

My daughter of 17 would like to know why, in this day and age, do advertisers still advertise products based on gender roles, e.g. Mr. Muscle - which is always depicted with a woman in distress, having to clean the kitchen. Do men not clean kitchens? Are there no men running households? The Verimark Ads are similar, all fat products are aimed at woman, apparently all vacuum cleaner buyers are only women? Can someone please respond? If I bring up my son to help with the dishes and make my daughter help in the garden/wash the car, how are they supposed to relate to gender based advertising? I was interested to see how this makes her frustrated so felt a comment in need.
Sharleen