This is one from my backlog of reader-submitted content. Rachel P, who lives in Spain, sent me this Twitter ad from Magnum ice cream bars. She translates the headline as "how to raise a Spanish woman's self-esteem."
Yeah, ice cream, stiletto heels, and jewellery. That'll do 'er. Because feminism is so 20th Century.
It says, roughly, "How do Spanish women enjoy the pleasure of the best chocolate ice-cream?"
Magnum, a Unilever brand, is no stranger to controversial ads. Marketing primarily to women, they seem to have no problem insulting them with stuff like this. Tiresome.
Breyers ice cream was once a brand built on the "all-natural" mantra. (Their most famous ad, which I can't seem to find, had a kid trying to pronounce the ingredients.)
Here's a later campaign, built on the same USP:
That's history now. In 1996, they started adding the very ingredients they used to make fun of, as a cost-cutting measure. And as The Consumerist points out today, many of their flavours can no longer technically be called "ice cream" in the United States:
Frozen Dairy Dessert products are made with many of the same high-quality ingredients that are commonly found in Ice Cream – like fresh milk, cream and sugar – and offer a great taste and even smoother texture. These products do not fall within the current FDA definition of standardized Ice Cream, so we call them Frozen Dairy Dessert.
...
Since 1866, Breyers products have consistently delivered high-quality ingredients, great flavors and smooth creaminess that our fans love, and we remain committed to that Pledge. Our Ice Cream and new Frozen Dairy Dessert varieties continue to use fresh milk, cream and sugar. What distinguishes our Frozen Dairy Dessert from our Ice Cream is that it’s blended in a whole new way to create a smoother texture.
In the newest Ragu commercial, a young boy barges into his parents' bedroom without knocking. We don't see what he sees, but the cringe on his face and wide eyes tell us enough. This boy catches his parents in the act and walks away in shock.
"Parents in bed, but it's just eight o'clock; that's why they taught, you should always knock," a singer tells us. "He needs Ragu, 'cause growin' up's tough. Give him Ragu, he's been through enough." The parents then give him a plateful of spaghetti to calm him down. The Ragu is supposed to make him feel better. It's all part of Ragu's "Long Day of Childhood Calls for America's Favorite Pasta Sauce" campaign.
This entire ad not only makes someone lose their appetite, but Ragu is also being irresponsible in their new campaign. Instead of being helpful, it is harmful to children in the name of so-called humor. The Ragu commercial is inappropriate and tacky. The commercial has aired during the Olympics when families are likely watching.
I'm not really sure how this ad is "harmful" to kids — seems like pretty good advice to me.
Mike Dwyer, U.S. foods director for Ragu-owner Unilever, told AdAge "We didn't want to come out with another utilitarian food ad."
That's for sure. These ads appeal to me both as a parent and as a former kid. (Note to self — buy lock for bedroom door.)
Check out the other ones in this great campaign by BFG9000:
I can totally see how this one went down. The Art Director cast women of various ethnicities, to show "diversity". Then, at the photoshoot (or afterwards in Photoshop) arranged them in to create an aesthetically-pleasing gradation of skin tones. Without paying attention to the actual ad claim behind them:
As MB Quirk at The Consumerist points out, "I'm inclined to think, and I hope I'm right, that Dove is really saying any woman of any color could get lovely skin instead of rough by lathering up with this wash. Either way, whoever approved this ad should get a thump on the head and a 'What were you thinking?'"
I mean "viral". It's tiresome, it's jargony, and it's over-promising.
According to YouTube, people are watching 2 billion videos a day on there and upload 24 hours of video every minute. That's a lot of competition. And yet agencies continue to promise clients a "viral campaign" as if it were just another media buy.
It used to be easier. In the early days, just about anything that was funny, shocking or moving was considered shareworthy. Remember Bride Has Massive Hair Wig Out?
That thing was great because it successfully recreated the schadenfreude viewers feel when they watch someone else's trainwreck. And many thought it was real, because it had no branding whatsoever. Instead, it was a brilliant strategy of making content that was newsworthy in itself, then reaping the earned media rewards once the jig was up.
But that golden age has passed. Now, ad agencies are trying to struggle with clients who don't have that kind of patience. They want their online videos to turn into commercials right away.
As an example, let me give you this one from The Viral Factory. It's cute, it's catchy, and it's kind of flawed. It doesn't know when it is supposed to be "reality" and when it's supposed to be staged. Almost from the start, the two pro dancers behind the little girl give the choreography away by anticipating her moves. It's just branded entertainment.
The same agency put out this very different, but highly amusing video playing on another of advertising's staples: boobs. It's bizarre, it's disturbing, and it's completely unique. But still a commercial.
The kid one has had over three and a half million views so far. Because people are suckers for kids, and Samsung really pumped budget into it. But is it "viral"? It has certainly spread electronically, as per the definition, but in the ancient days of the Internet, really good "virals" were unintentional successes. They spread because they accidentally spawned memes that were too interesting to ignore — often at the expense of their subject. An early (and cruel) example was the Star Wars kid. A recent one is Double Rainbow.
These ideas "went viral" not because of a marketing strategy, but simply because they had a special something that nobody can really plan. So agency people instead fall back on the ancient stables of babies and boobs to get attention and notoriety.
Not that these aren't skillfully done, mind you. But when the content comes out of a strategy, a professional production, and deliberate seeding to influential bloggers, I feel like we've got to call an ad an ad — no matter how stealthy or outrageous — and leave "virals" to the amateurs.
