While there's seriousness behind their complaints about the stereotype, these dads insist they can take a joke.

"By and large, men are willing to laugh at themselves," says Holland. "But there just becomes a point where you say, 'OK, the first 400 of these were funny.' "

And Thompson of the Bleier Center, himself a dad, says he enjoys laughing at these depictions, which exaggerate characteristics of some fathers, even today.

"As long as there are clueless bumbling men there will be clueless bumbling dads," he says. "I'm sure there were clueless bumbling cavemen. Actually, his name was Fred Flintstone!"