I have a beef with an ad running in high circulation on some channels i watch. This is not quite the same, but a slightly older ad from Cascade. The premise is the same.
Before I make my point, watch this short clip.
Do you see my beef?
When you have an ad that has to explain things it just fails. Who the heck is the woman coming in and why? And to have her explain in a tight segue that she is a “Kitchen Councillor” is taking away from the message. What is a Kitchen Councillor? Never heard of it. Nor you. It is some made up term and then has to be explained in the ad itself, thus detracting from the real message of the power of the detergent to get things clean.
Now that old one from dish pan soap of “You are already soaking in it” wins for me. Then more dishes were done in the sink and detergent could be rough on hands. That showed how it was not hard on hands, but you never heard from Madge that she was a “Degenerate Manicurist”.
Keep It Simple Stupid. KISS principle. (Yes I first heard of this over 20 years ago and thought it related to Gene Simmons – but hell it could). Don’t distract.
And the fact that every version of this ad has two women, be it mother/daughter, best friends etc… still is all female case grinds me. I help to do the dishes in this house. I do my part the house work. It’s a choice and something that my family and I share. Including my kids. Who buys detergent product? My wife or me.
So a miss on the miss of the male component, but a real miss because the “Kitchen Councillor” segue. Yep I do turn the channel when this comes on and end up watching something else.
Think about that media buyers. As for the creative team on this one? I am not sure but think that the client either made them insert the explanation or they did not have the balls to say no or – both the client and the agency were incompetent in getting this done right.
BTW – my soap? Dang what ever is cheapest. But not Tide – that does not work in the dishwasher folks!
Now on to a better ad: Good message. And as far as Cascade goes it puts the woman in the kitchen like they think that women belong according to their on screen talent gender.
I so agree. Let’s all go back to the 50s! Said no woman – EVER.
It’s insulting to both genders, and just in general, to our collective intelligence. Personally, it’s kinda hard to wrap my head around the fact that people are still buying into this type of ‘throwback’ advertising.
It’s the 21st century, people!