A hat tip to Bob Garfield at Advertising Age for finding this one. Want to see how quickly a great creative idea can get blasted out of the media in the new world of social media? Method is a company that markets organic bathroom cleaners. The premise for differentiating their product is to convince consumers that many famous brand cleaners leave residue with toxic substances in your tub and shower long after the cleaning is done. Eeewwww! Who wants to be showering with toxic substances, right? That’s exactly the point they wanted to help communicate in their web spot created in conjunction with a product labeling advocacy group. Great way to differentiate your product … especially among the traditional bathroom cleaner buyers … health-conscious moms! Here’s the spot.
To demonstrate the lingering affects of toxic residue, Method turns your shower into something akin to a construction site scene complete with oogling bubble “lurkers” thugs. Drawing the parallel between sexist thugs and toxic residue is smart. Nobody wants to be around either of them … especially when you’re about to hop in the shower. The spot gets your attention. It makes one very solid point. And it’s something you’ll remember when you’re walking down the aisles at the store. The problem? They didn’t stand up for the creative when a handful of activist bloggers decided to take offense. Instead they pulled the spot because people complained they were offended.
Guess what … good advertising sometimes offends people because it takes a stand. Good advertising isn’t supposed to make people comfortable. In the case of this spot … it was supposed to make people squirm. Do you think Apple tv spots don’t offend some PC users because they position them as bumbling geeks? Do you think GoDaddy spots don’t offend some women’s groups because of how they portray women? Of course they do. But if the creative is smart and it helps communicate a message effectively, that’s exactly what you ask of your advertising.
Pulling the ads in response to complaints was probably a good PR move because it probably caused more people to watch the ads online than they would have without the controversy – and made the company look responsible for listening to their customers. But that doesn’t mean we should all start creating milk-toast ads that don’t take a stand? I hope not!
Author: Tom Flynn III
www.lessingflynn.com
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Sheesh sometimes I feel like this country is turning into Crybaby Nation. There are always groups of people, especially on Twitter, who are initiating campaigns against people or products. I agree, see the bigger picture and don’t get scared off so easily. Negative feedback isn’t always negative.
That was so funny and genius! The parallel is right on, as a woman who has been heckled by members of the opposite sex, it IS uncomfortable and if I can do something to avoid it, I will. It would be really interesting to change things up with a male in the video, I wonder what persona the shiny suds become?
Thanks for the comments!
@SheenaLara – I thought the same thing about if it was a man in the shower, although Tom Flynn argued that women buy the products so it made sense it was a woman in the spot.
That was great! I am with you, pulling the commercial has created more buzz than playing it. Smart move by Method
Do you think Method removed it to create buzz or because of the negative press? That would be savvy if it were the former!