Saturday, February 24, 2007

Hey, Generation X. Zap those Zits!

Can someone please explain to me why an early 90s American ad for Clearasil is now infesting the airwaves of every music channel in the uk?

With very dated drawing, stupidly dated look (the kids hair is a relic from that time when grunge rules America), overtly american dialogue, and poor NTSC to PAL (it appears) making the entire thing look like a second hand VHS copy...why?!

Is it that hard to make an advert that they have to start replaying something from 18 years ago? Its not like the ad is even that good. It flicks and jumps through the points in half a nanosecond.

I mean seriously, can someone from their agency please explain why this is back on the air? Is it that effective, I honestly can't believe it would be...

Now. Im off to listen to the Smashing Pumpkins and watch the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

6 comments:

lauren said...

one of my pet peeves is the laziness of showing american ads, overdubbed in bad australian accents, shown to australian consumers. like we might not notice!

Stanley Johnson said...

Given the target market for a product of this type, I'd have that a spot of Consumer Generated Content would be the way to go. Cheap, cheerful and perfect for the YouTube generation.

PS: Don't be dissin' da Fresh Prince. He da man y'all!

Anonymous said...

Maybe this early-90s-retro-style is the whole point? What with the proliferation of digital channels, episodes of Fresh Prince, Friends etc. have been repeated so often that the colour has started to fade. And the quality of stuff on youtube, mobiles, PSPs is hardly brilliant - but thats what the Clearasil generation are used to.

Or maybe they just had no budget and found an old betaSP tape under a desk somewhere...

Anonymous said...

Whoa whoa!
There was no Fresh Prince dissing going on here... wouldnt dream of it!

Overdubbing ads just point blank shows a lack of respect for the intelligence of consumers, and a lack of recognition that despite us living in a global marketplace, people are still different.

I dont think its a retro thing. Particularly as that grunge era thing isnt on a retro wave yet (certainly not in the mainstream).

Beta SP? Looks more like Betamax...

The Clearasil generation? Of all the brands a generation would want to be associated with... spot removal cream?! Love to see the agency pitching that one...

Anonymous said...

I hear Boyzone are reforming

Anonymous said...

When were Boyzone part of the grunge scene?! ;)