Eggs-ellent Easter Advertisements

As much as Easter is a time for giving, it is also a time for receiving: little kids (and in my case, the older ones too) get chocolate candy and colorful eggs, parents get a much-desired photo-op, and we all get the opportunity to spend some quality time with our loved ones....with all of this receiving, why shouldn’t advertisers get something out of this holiday too? Well, while some companies stay away from religious affiliation of any sort, others have taken advantage of this widely celebrated day to put out some great new ads. Here are just a few examples:

As a former high school mascot (the “Bobcat” for those interested), I got a kick out of this ad, knowing just how exhausting such a job should be. Even for those who haven’t chosen to subject themselves to wearing a fur suit in high temperatures, this advertisement for Scandic by Hilton is relatable: as much as we love the holidays, they can be exhausting. This perfectly captures that sentiment, and even gives a solution to the problem.

This advertisement undoubtedly has a more serious tone, but it’s message not to drink and drive is definitely important. The religious imagery serves to capture the attention of the audience, and the clever message (“Don’t Get Closer to God This Easter”) really resonates. While Easter is a time to celebrate, we must still be responsible, a message that this ad clearly delivers.

Ok, so I don’t find this advertisement to be as strong as the other two, but let’s be honest: this kid is just too darn cute not to include in this blog. I also loved the message of the candy and the eggs not being the important parts of Easter; though these two things are always there, it is the tradition that really matters. I know the whole idea of tradition is how my mom is able to get my brothers and I (all over the age of 18 now) to participate in an Easter egg hunt all over the neighborhood every year. Oh yeah, and it’s pretty fun too. 

Would It Kill You to Say You're Sorry?

Ok, let’s be honest:if you’re eating at Taco Bell, you’re probably not the most health conscious on the planet. In the college world, the most frequent customers of the sixth largest fast food chain only indulge themselves in a bean burrito or chicken quesadilla after taking down a few (or more) alcoholic beverages. However, apparently some people take their Taco Bell health more seriously, as the Alabama-based law firm Beasley Allen recently filed a class-action suit against the chain, alleging that Taco Bell’s filling was only 35-percent beef. The claim was recently dropped, and now Taco Bell is demanding an apology.

This advertisement appeared in many major newspapers, such as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and the New York Times, just two days ago. The bold print ad is accompanied by a video of Taco Bell President Greg Creed in a campaign to clarify that that Taco Bell has “ALWAYS used 100% USDA-inspected premium beef” and that the recent lawsuit had absolutely no basis. Consequently, they would like a public apology from Beasley Allen.

Taco Bell is the last restaurant that one would expect to stand behind the integrity of their ingredients. After all, the chain has not been without its public relations disasters, with an E.Coli outbreak in 2006 and a viral video of enormous rats running through a New York City Taco Bell/KFC in 2007. However, maybe this shows why Taco Bell has launched such an aggressive campaign to defend themselves: this time, they really didn’t do anything wrong. 

Some public relations professionals think Taco Bell is merely adding fuel to the fire and should just let the whole ordeal slip away. On the contrary, I find Taco Bell’s campaign to be a smart way for the company to defend itself, while telling people that their product is actually a lot more quality than they think. In either case, I don’t think drunk college students are going to care either way.

Fair Play

"Going, going, going,.......BAM! Right into the 88-foot tall golf club?"

We might hear these words coming from the Padres' baseball announcer when the team plays at Petco Park in San Diego. TaylorMade, a leading golf manufacturer, has just recently attached an 88-foot tall, 950-pound replica of its R11 driver to the right-field foul pole at the stadium, taking advertising to all new heights. The all-aluminum driver is no small feat, taking 250 man-hours to construct. To close off the advertising deal, LPGA star Natalie Gulbis will throw out the first pitch at today's Padres-Philles game.


Although the club head at the end of the driver is an optical illusion, the handle is in fair territory, begging the question of what happens if a long-driven ball hits it. Well, at least TaylorMade executives will have clubs to protect themselves from angry Padres' fans.

A New Old Spice Man?

Ok, I’ve become disturbingly familiar with the Old Spice brand during the past few weeks. Besides all the advertising knowledge I’ve gained, there has been one major plus of all of my team’s hard work: getting to look at lots and lots of pictures of Isaiah Mustafa. No one can argue that he’s a gorgeous man (although apparently he has a daughter, which makes him seem a little less attainable). Back to the point, Isaiah is a strong, good-looking guy who has been the perfect spokesperson for the Old Spice brand, spearheading the campaign entitled, “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”. 

Debuting in June 2010 and continuing on from there, this campaign has been extremely successful for Old Spice, as statistics prove (for example, their sales have grown 107% as a result). With those kind of numbers, and the fact that Isaiah Mustafa has risen to such popularity (with around 55,000 followers on Twitter alone), you can imagine my surprise when Old Spice came out with this new commercial, WITHOUT the puppy-loving, mustache-bearing, guitar-playing Isaiah.

This commercial has the same humor and bravado of every Old Spice commercial, even though it is without the brand’s major star. The ad for the company’s new cologne “Danger Zone” features a still anonymous Old Spice man, who treks through the wilderness and appears completely unfazed by snakes, rough waters, and even an alligator eating his legs down to the bone. As much as I love Isaiah, I have to admit that I approve of Old Spice’s latest ad, and think that their move makes sense.

We are currently in an age of tabloids and public relations disasters. Thus, as companies have learned, it’s not smart or economical to invest a company’s entire image in one person. This is the danger that Old Spice faces if it continues to keep Isaiah as the only face of its grooming products. As a Senior Marketing Strategist from Wieden+Kennedy, the advertising agency that handles the Old Spice campaigns, addressed, “It has been an evolving process with many different Old Spice men.” From Swagger and LL Cool J to Bruce Campbell to Will Ferrell, there have been many Old Spice men. Isaiah may have been the most successful, but he will surely not be the last.

THE MEN OF OLD SPICE

WILL FERRELL

BRUCE CAMPBELL

LL COOL J

The most important thing for this dynamic brand is that it continues to appeal to young men seeking a sense of confidence and the ability to accomplish the many goals that they have set out for themselves. With this confidence, dependability, and humor, any man can be an Old Spice Man.

Beauty in the Hands of the Networks?

As much as I want this blog to be about the best in advertising and public relations, there are times that call for me to comment on certain aspects of this industry that can be extremely frustrating, or even angering. The recent Lane Bryant commercial controversy is just one of these times; however, it is not the company or its advertisements that are drawing fire from people like me, but how the two have been received by major television networks.

Recently, Lane Bryant representatives took to the company's blog to point out a “plus size” double standard going on in network television. According to the company, both ABC and Fox nixed their new commercial for their lingerie line Cacique, which features a full-figured model for the plus size retailer. Allegedly, ABC refused to show the commercial during “Dancing with the Stars” until the final moments of the show, and Fox demanded that it be re-edited three times before allowing it to air during American Idol, again restricting it until the end of the broadcast. While the company admitted that the ad was indeed “sexy (but not salacious)”, they pointed out that these networks frequently show Victoria’s Secret ads for lingerie during the same time slots. 

In the interest of full disclosure, ABC and Fox deny these allegations, claiming that the only restrictions made on the commercial were that it be aired during the last ten minutes of the shows, in order to keep it from airing it during a “family hour”, and thus avoiding complaints of the Standards & Practices Department of the network. Fox will now air the spot next week on April 28.

As much as I hate consumer outrage over mild transgressions, I find that the anger is not misplaced in this instance. I myself am not plus-sized, but I am also not the size of a Victoria Secret model and I know how influential the media can be on a woman’s body image. Therefore, I find it appalling that networks should set such a double standard when it comes to women’s beauty. Not all women are a size 2, and brands such as Lane Bryant who give women the confidence to show off their body at any size should be commended. However, instead of doing this, these two major television networks chose to perpetuate the stigma of plus-sized women and continue to make them feel like they are not worthy of the same things that skinny models are. I am sure that some will think I am overreacting, but with media power constantly growing, our sense of self and body image is becoming lower day after day.

Lane Bryant has seemed to adopt the same view, and has thus turned what could have been a disaster into a public relations triumph. Their sense of indignation on their blog definitely makes their plus-sized target consumers feel more connected to them as a brand; as they have surely felt the same kind of exclusion in real life as Lane Bryant now feels by major television networks. The end of their blog even encourages readers to “PICK ONE: Team Cacique or Team Network. Tell us how you feel and pass this along to everyone who shares the view that beauty is in the eye of the beholder not the hands of a television network.”

Regardless of if you wear lingerie or not, I think Team Cacique is the right team to be on. 

Silence is Golden

A couple weeks after the Gilbert Gottfried debacle, Aflac was forced to move on without the well-known voice of its duck. If there’s one thing that we have learned from controversy, it’s that customers really look at how the company in question reacts to it. So, everyone was eagerly waiting to see what Aflac would do after losing the voice behind its much-beloved spokesduck. So they brought us this:

In my humble opinion, this commercial is genius, as is the rest of how Aflac is choosing to handle the public outcry that it has faced. Instead of just choosing a random person to take over Gilbert Gottfried’s role, they cleverly came out with a commercial in the form of a silent movie, completely avoiding the issue altogether. In addition, although a little too violent for my tastes, the killing of the duck could be seen as a symbolic death of Gottfried’s role in the company (and judging from a lot of the opinions that have come out about Gottfried's Twitter comments, there is no shortage of people who wouldn't mind seeing the comic run over by a train). We must sit and wait to see the next step that Aflac will take; however, this new competition to be the next voice of the duck will likely draw a lot of publicity and keep consumers attentive to the thing we Americans love most: controversy.