Ads of the Weird : Beauty products

Old Spice horses around

Allison Linn — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:00:00 GMT

We’ll say this about Old Spice’s "Double Impact" commercial – once you see it, you aren’t likely to forget it.

In the ad, a centaur – half man, half horse – is in the shower, soaping up and bragging about how he loves Old Spice’s new body wash/moisturizer because he also is two things, "a man, and a pretty smart shopper."

Our narrator then goes on to explain all the benefits of this dual-purpose product before concluding:

"It’s perfect. I should know. I’m two great things. A man…,"

".. and, a provider," concludes a woman who has just walked into the shot.

Old Spice

We get that Old Spice was trying to make a joke by ignoring the centaur element, and we like that the ad doesn’t resort to the usual flashy graphics/hot women/loud music cliché that defines most ads for similar men’s products.

But seriously, "a provider"? Was this ad made in 1965? Or has Old Spice perhaps missed the last few decades, during which when women entered the workforce and also started earning paychecks?

We would have appreciated a more creative punch line.

Sexism aside, there is something to be said for a commercial that is willing to take a risk, even if some people will be too distracted by the centaur to pay attention to the brand at hand.

Old Spice also takes things even further with a Web site that shows the ad’s narrator in all sorts of odd pairings: half-octopus, half-slug, half-snake, etc. In two examples of not-so-subtle symbolism, he is also shown as half-tank and half-cannon.

Click here to go to the Web site and see the ads.

Old Spice also recently launched another new series of ads, called Swagger, that follow the more traditional formula -- use our product and you will be cool and attractive to women! If only it were that easy. Click here to watch those ads.

Charlie Sheen boasts about his briefs

Allison Linn — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:00:00 GMT

A few months back, Hanes struck just the right note with an advertising campaign featuring glamorous yet goofy actress Sarah Chalke publicly doing battle with a wedgie, before discovering Hanes’ "no ride-up" panty.

Now, Hanes is taking on the other sex. A new campaign features sitcom actor Charlie Sheen in full fanboy mode, hoping to impress basketball legend Michael Jordan. His method is questionable, however: upon seeing the star at an exclusive club, he immediately starts bragging about the "no ride-up" boxer briefs he’s wearing.

In the process of trying to show Jordan his underwear -- while driving in reverse -- Sheen manages to slam into a valet stand. A bemused Jordan looks on.

(Click the image above to play the ad.)

In terms of casting, this commercial is right on.

Sheen may be a sitcom star, but he’s not type of mysterious and sexy actor women swoon over, nor is he the kind of guy you’re likely to see on a billboard dressed only in the aforementioned underwear.

Jordan, on the other hand, is the type of awe-inspiring celebrity that likely makes even grown (and famous) guys a bit nervous.

It all seems like the makings for an over-the-top pratfall, but Sheen -- unlike Chalke -- doesn't take it as far as he could.

If the joke is that you’re going to react to meeting a star by showing him your underwear, you should be ready to leave some dignity at the door and play it for all the laughs you can. Sheen is witty, but he seems a bit stilted, too much like a spokesman hawking a product.

To be fair, Sheen also isn’t given as rich of material to work with. Although Hanes has given the "no ride-up" boxer brief the same name as the women’s product, this one is actually meant to not ride up the leg. It’s confusing that the products have the name but serve two different purposes. And, frankly, the boxer brief's purpose just isn’t as funny.

Still, we have to give Hanes credit for making underwear ads that are actually fun to watch, and not cringe-inducing or mind-numbingly boring.

Click here to watch the ad.

Dr. Scholl's gets way too sexy for itself

Allison Linn — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:30:00 GMT

Say the name Dr. Scholl’s and most people think of sensible shoes, somewhat embarrassing foot ailments and other not-so-sexy connotations. That’s a hard reputation to beat, but evoking table dancing may be taking things too far.

A recent ad for the foot comfort company shows model Yaya DaCosta, a contestant from "America’s Next Top Model," doing what appears to be some sort of sexy dance (although it may be the chicken dance gone awry) on something that looks like a cross between a desk and a stage.

Dr. Scholl’s

After performing in bare feet, she jumps off -- and right into a pair of sky-high red heels, then breaks into the dance again. Apparently, this is an effort to show that using Dr. Scholl’s For Her makes dancing in towering heels more comfortable.

The ad is so wrong in so many ways that it’s hard to know where to begin. First of all, if this is a commercial aiming to tout how much more comfortable heels are thanks to Dr. Scholl’s products, why does it show a woman dancing barefoot for so much longer than it shows her dancing with the shoes on?

Second, why didn’t they bother to hire a woman who could actually dance well?

DaCosta is beautiful, but her moves are jerky and inconsistent. More to the point, she often looks strained and uncomfortable, although that may be because her movement is limited by those skin-tight leather pants. Still, we’re guessing the shoes get so little air time because she just couldn’t dance well in them.

The entire effect is unappealing, made worse by the fact that the whole concept -- dancing on a platform in bright red heels -- is more crass than cute.

We’re all for foot products that make walking, and dancing, in high heels more comfortable, but please spare us the table-dancing subtext.

Click here to watch the ad.

Mommy, can you do something about your hair?

Allison Linn — Tue, 13 May 2008 07:00:00 GMT

These days, moms are constantly being told that there are countless things they should be doing to make their kids smarter, healthier and more well-adjusted. As if the pressure to hand-grind organic vegetables into gourmet baby food while teaching your toddler a second language isn’t enough, now along comes a commercial to note that, in the midst of all that, you really ought to do something about your hair.

Suave’s recent television ad argues that "89 percent of moms admit they’ve let themselves go." But don’t fret, moms, with a few minutes and a bevy of Suave products, you can, to paraphrase the beauty product company’s words, get yourself back.

Suave

Suave’s campaign, which includes television commercials, an extensive Web site and a radio jingle, is a little bit like that best girlfriend who likes to be around you because it makes her feel prettier, smarter or more successful. The campaign seems to be exuding a sympathetic vibe, but in reality it’s not-so-subtly working to make moms feel bad about themselves, in the hopes that they’ll rush out and stock up on hair care products.

One of the commercials shows a photo slide show of mom’s evolution from a beautiful single woman to pregnant lady to overwhelmed mom holding an overstuffed garbage bag -- and back to hot mama, thanks to Suave products.

In the surprisingly unsubtle radio jingle, a woman sings: "My hair’s a mess, my skin’s distressed, deodorant is anyone’s guess. I’ve got to put beauty on my list. Starting right now I’ll find beauty galore, at my local store."

It’s absolutely true that most moms wouldn’t mind a little more time to take a shower, do their hair or, on some days, just get their teeth properly brushed. But surely there are more sophisticated ways to get that point across than by featuring slightly disheveled, but perfectly attractive, moms with taglines like, "Hasn’t ‘felt pretty’ since the day her water broke."

Suave is right that "Motherhood isn’t always pretty." But neither is resorting to mommy guilt to sell beauty products.

Click here to see the campaign.

The war against the wedgie

Allison Linn — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 07:00:00 GMT

It’s not easy selling underwear.

Companies aiming to get customers into their underthings have to walk the fine line between becoming too sexy for themselves - a misstep Victoria’s Secret recently acknowledged - and getting too deep into the decidedly unsexy engineering behind undergarments (how much do we really want to think about bra fittings, after all?)

Hanes is aiming to find a happy - and humorous - medium with a new series of ads that tries, in a silly but sexy way, to sell a pair of underwear guaranteed not to give you a wedgie.

Hanes

The first of two commercials, featuring actress Sarah Chalke of “Scrubs” fame and directed by her co-star Zach Braff, show Chalke trying all sorts of goofball tricks to secretly get rid of her wedgie while two fans look on. When one more adventurous move lands her flat on her back, Chalke notices a display of Hanes' new No Ride-Up Panty and quickly heads for the dressing room.

In the next, Chalke – now sporting her new, wedgie-free underwear – watches other women trying to rid themselves of a wedgie while walking down the street. Then, in a print ad, a glamorous Chalke is walking the red carpet but worrying that a problem will “creep up.”

The potty-humor element of the ad campaign could have quickly devolved into tasteless oblivion if Hanes hadn’t been able to recruit an actress like Chalke, who exudes a goofy, “I’m your best girlfriend” charm. The ad also manages to address the topic in a relatively oblique way, resisting the urge to subject us to any close-up shots from behind.

The campaign is, in fact, entertaining enough that people might forget to question the entire premise of the product: really, a pair of underwear that promises to rid women of wedgies? Is that something the world has really been clamoring for?

The new commercials are set to debut on television Tuesday night. Click here to see the campaign on the Web.

TMI from Dove

Rob Neill — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 07:00:00 GMT

Dove’s “Campaign For Real Beauty” has been the source of good advertising with a good (if a tad bit Oprah-ized) message for a few years now.

The message: Women should be comfortable with their bodies and own beauty. Hopefully it has made some people feel better, more respected and respectful.

Certainly, though, women are still hit with contrary messages at every turn. The company’s new “short film” (or is that “long ad?”) is especially striking.

Unilever

“Onslaught,” created by the campaign by agency Ogilvy & Mather opens with a doe-eyed young girl staring into the camera, as if she’s waiting to be told something. What follows is about 50 seconds of rapid-fire edits and dissolves that show what the world, or at least the world of advertising, will be telling her throughout her life. And how she may live her life because of it.

Advertisements for lingerie dissolve into fashion magazines dissolve into diet pills dissolve into beauty creams dissolve into an emaciated woman piling on weight and back again dissolve to a bulimia sufferer dissolve into various plastic surgeries.

When the commotion dies down, the camera refocuses on the girl with the message “talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does.”

Show the evidence. Deliver a simple message. Very effective.

Of course Dove is owned by Unilever, which makes the really-it’s-a-magic-pheromone-and-not-cheap-drugstore-cologne spray Axe. And more importantly markets it like this. We’re far too polite to at this point bring up talking out of both sides of one’s mouth. So we won’t.

Apropos of nothing: We really liked this completely unrelated ad. Reminds us of when Tarantino made good movies.