Wow. Really Clorox?
As previously written, I am a big fan of Mad Men. I even stay up past my Sunday night bed time to catch the show so I can discuss it around the proverbial water cooler on Monday morning.
I love the idea that brands are tailoring their ads to the show, however, the execution needs some work. I don’t want to even talk about the horrid Dove ad that was aired last night. The ad I do want to talk about was the Clorox ad.
The ad implies that all “ad men” cheat on their spouses, girlfriends, whomever and Clorox helps them hide the evidence. I understand Clorox was trying to be edgy, but they really missed the mark. In general, Clorox targets women, so it’s really surprising, almost startling to see a brand go so far off their usual path.
First of all, laundry is still a predominantly female household task (76% of us are still responsible for the laundry in our family). As a female shopper in 2010, I am really put off by the idea of a product helping hide my partner’s infidelities.
If I were male, and especially a male that works in advertising, I would be really offended by the generalization that all men that work in advertising are having affairs and are unfaithful.
So, who is this ad targeting? Certainly not women and I would venture to say not the educated and affluent male viewers of Mad Men either. I think their intention was to appeal to the growing number of men responsible for doing laundry as people get married later and gender roles have shifted. And as a marketer, I completely understand trying to go after a new target market, but this ad feels like they are still advertising to men in the 1960’s not the 21st century.
If Clorox wants to target men as more men are responsible for laundry, that’s great, if this is the way they think they will appeal to them, I think they jumped the shark.
And by the way, full disclosure, my boyfriend does all the laundry in our house.
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