So I've been half-assedly watching some commercials while knitting and waiting for my shows to start again of an evening lately. I've noticed something about Cialis ads. Something that I don't believe the advertising team necessarily wanted to convey, but here goes:
There are at least two of them now, both start the same way, and end the same way:
Scene opens on typically aged couple for this type of ad.
Ad closes with them in separate bathtubs in the forest.
It's what happens in the middle that cracks me up.
So here's the couple, in one ad they're in the kitchen, in the other they've just finished painting the living room.
He walks up to her, clearly having taken the magic pill, and smiles in a way that is supposed to be suggestive.
She turns to him, he moves closer, and the house disassembles and becomes the forest.
That's right.
The house falls apart.
The pill is a home-wrecker.
Do you see how short a path it is from a potentially seductive visual message to a completely opposite message than is ideal when marketed to people in a committed, stable, monogamous relationship?
Now I can't see a Cialis ad without giggling. Does anyone else have an ad campaign that was turned on its ear for them because of unintended messages?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hmmm. Never thought of the homewrecker angle. What I want to know, along with (apparently) a whole bunch of other people, it WHAT THE HECK IS IT WITH THE BATHTUB??????
ReplyDeleteIt looks cold. Is shrinkage a good thing? Do some people LIKE getting their feet all dirty going back to the house?
Inquiring minds and all that.
Aunt Messy, my mom wants to know why they are in SEPARATE BATHTUBS, I mean, doesn't that defeat the purpose??
ReplyDeleteI'm right there with you, though. =-)
Um, the bathtub represents getting naked together? But not TOO together, in case small kids are watching! Too hard for Grandma to explain why those old people are taking a bath together in one tub in the forest. Why don't they just put them in a hottub?
ReplyDeleteI was suddenly struck by something on the Nationwide radio ad the other day. The guy doesn't talk too fast, is moderately entertaining, and (to the untrained ear), the ad sounds rather convincing. However, at the end, he "accidentally" has extra time, and "entertains" us wiht his kazoo. Meanwhile, the REAL disclaimer guy is telling you - more quietly than the kazoo is playing, that "not all discounts will be found or applied." In other words, their company - just like every other company - has a lot of discounts which they might find, but if the agent is incompetent, they won't.
Likewise the ad for ... whoever it is with that annoying woman who seems like she came straight from Mel's Diner. They tell the poor schmuck that he can "name his own price." Uh, yeah. That's called, "cutting out as many features as legally possible until you reach the price the person is willing to pay." Every company does it. If I told them I wanted to pay $60 per month for full coverage for two newish cars, with a large PIP rider, they'd tell me where I could put it. But isn't that what "name your own price" implies? Sorry kiddies, but insurance isn't like leftover hotel rooms. No one is underbidding each other to get a 21 year old with a felony speeding ticket and a couple of wreck and maybe a DUI or MIP to sign up for THEIR insurance. The Gecko isn't William Shatner, and Geico isn't Priceline.
CoolOne, we should totally write to the Cialis people and tell them to use the hottub and lose the homewrecker
ReplyDeleteHmmm. Libster, when I thought about this, I realize it's been a very very long time since I've seen a commercial! I don't watch much network tv and the stuff on my satellite is mostly commercials for other shows on the system. Like TLC running ads for all the shows on TLC.
ReplyDeleteThe only commercials that ever bothered me were the ones for Carl's Jr. ~ advertising their $6 burgers or something like that. The one in particular I'm thinking of has a hot girl in an office, eating a burger at her desk. The thing is huge ~ and drippy. At one point, a big ol' blob of ketchup lands on her blouse ~ PLOP ~ and she glances down at it and shrugs and goes back to eating ~ the implication being that this burger is just so AWESOME that it's worth ruining her best blouse over. Who cares, right? Well, me, for one. They had a whole series of these drippy messy wardrobe-ruining commercials and I was completely turned off by whatever it was they were hawking.
I have a theory, Libby my dear (said with affection, not patronization ;)!) so go with me for a minute. Have you ever noticed the vent holes on fast food french fry containers? BK puts theirs about an inch up from the bottom ~ while McDonald's puts theirs on the very bottom of the container ~ so it's virtually impossible to not have small crumbs/bits of greasy salt fall out. I believe this is a conspiracy by McDonalds because they KNOW people are going to eat those fries in their car, and the small bits will fall out into the car ~ which will gradually permeate your vehicle with the subliminal smell of McDonald's french fries!! So when you get in your car on a hot day ~ the first thing you think is "ooh I could go for some Mickey D's!" and you *don't even know why*!
Give it some thought. Do your own research. In fact, do LOTS of research. Then get back to me.
Darling MM (said with affection:) )
ReplyDeleteI figured this out about 4 vehicles ago. Which is why I eat all my fries leaving the container INSIDE the bag, so there is no leftover greasy fry crumbness. Whenever possible, I put the bag on some spare napkins first so there's no lingering grease smell once the trash is out.
I agree, though, that it's a serious marketing ploy by them.
I haven't watched commercials in a long time, until the past 6 months when I've been knitting, and then watching the commercials has become part of my life again. But I never watch it with the volume on, and the closed captioning doesn't always end when the commercial does. In fact there are some commercials without closed captioning available. Which leaves hanging captions from previous commercials over the next one.
Like a Cialis tagline hanging over a anti-depression pill commercial, where they're flashing up cards about suicide with something like "enjoy your life with Cialis."
=-)
Some ads make laugh, but, for the most part, I skip right through them (thank goodness for the inventor of the DVR!).
ReplyDeleteHowever, there are plenty of ads from Europe that we never get to see. It's those that sometimes shoot soda through my nose. Here's one. It doesn't matter what their selling (although they do tell you at the end)--this is sorta NSFW-ish due to the obvious implications (but there is no human nudity at all--http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw_ZQkFeh28
My husband insists that the Cialis ad is telling you that it creates an erection so strong it can penetrate not one, but TWO bathtubs. Which is a bit hard to believe.
ReplyDeleteSoMerry, That is hilarious!!
ReplyDeleteSmag, I'll have to watch that this weekend and get back to you. ;-)
huh huh huh... she said penetrate.. huh huh huh
ReplyDeleteLibby it's been THAT LONG since I had McDonald's french fries that I've just now discovered this! No McDonald's, no network tv ~ it's a monastic life I lead. ;) The only thing that brought me back to them is their dollar menu. Thank goodness I didn't sully my car (I would have been P.O.d ~ I don't even like to bring home redolent food in it because even though it's 5 years old, it has less than 20thousand miles on it and still has that new car smell) ~ but my son and I went through the drive-thru in HIS truck, and honestly, I was kind of appalled at their packaging! I was like WTH? I had to diaper its bottom with a napkin, although with my son's truck there's really no need to bother, if you know what I mean. *eyeroll*
Why can't they bring back the Geico cavemen? That one in the airport where one caveman in tennis whites is peoplemoving past the poster of a caveman and he gets all (as Smag would say) "huffity" was frickin' genius.
Didn't you hear, the caveman lobby got ahold of the ACLU, and now Geico can't show those ads.
ReplyDelete(Totally made up, but it sounded good. =-D)
Well, let me rephrase, I knew about the leakage issue in the mcd's fry boxes since middle school. I determined they were an evil marketing plot because of lingering fry smell about 4 vehicles ago. =-)