TMCnet News
The Guide: The Hard Sell(Guardian (UK) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) ?ANDREX Considering their long-standing marketing approach has essentially been "would you like to see some puppies?" it was only a matter of time before Andrex started hanging around primary schools. The bumwipe behemoth with a soft, strong and very, very long association with adorable Labradors chasing unfurling bog roll has transitioned to interrogating schoolkids instead. "How clean do you feel after going to the loo?" is the question, one that seems both alarmingly personal and borderline inappropriate. Andrex reckon children are more open to considering questions of intimate care, since they have yet to convert years of disappointment into crippling personal anxieties. Or maybe it's just that all kids instinctively delight in the taboo-busting rush that comes from loudly discussing anything to do with potty business in mixed company. In any case, the end result plays like a reboot of Child's Play, the 1980s gameshow that monetised the flights of free-associative fancy that occur when you ask a schoolkid to explain anything that isn't Lego Ninjago. After the application of Andrex's miracle towelette, these sprogs apparently feel as dirt-free as various notable hygiene-freaks of the animal kingdom: squirrels, caterpillars, a baby elephant. "Clean as a butterfly!" says one moppet, an image that leaves them open to some obvious playground taunts when the schools go back. Will this campaign encourage us grown-ups to abandon stuffy societal conventions and start shouting about the pristine nature of our ringpieces? Andrex might have started a revolution. I hope they can follow through. GRAEME VIRTUE (c) 2014 Guardian Newspapers Limited. |