Advertisers get a bad reputation for being scaremongers. Recently, Hilton Hotels even made up a ‘disease’ called Vacationitis in a bid to convince Brits to use more of their time off to go on holiday. However, the advertisements that play on paranoia the most are probably those that promote hygiene or cleaning products. Given that I am quite fussy about cleanliness myself, I really get the emphasis on hygiene with these items, but the demand to be germ-free and fresh can go way too far…
This campaign for Protex by Y&R South Africa show just how dirty common professions can be, and why antibacterial handwash is especially essential to certain people.
These print ads for Lifebuoy handwash use the strapline, ‘You eat what you touch’ and show some of the cutest pets melded with popular foods. The photographer behind these images – Jeremy Wong – is the same guy who did the brilliant 3M lint roller ads that I previously featured.
“Pets are wonderful. And filthy.” states the blurb on the box of Todd Lawson’s ‘PetPetter’ – a contraption that was put together solely so that hygiene-conscious people could have the option of never touching their pets again. Funnily enough, the only positive press reviews that this gizmo seems to have garnered is that ‘Woofs Weekly’ called it ‘unique’. Yep, I’m sure that Todd Lawson can rest easy knowing that he’s got that whole corner of the market totally NAILED. I don’t think he’s got anything to worry about in terms of competition…maybe that could be because this idea is really fucking stupid?! Seriously, I’d quite like to know what kind of nutjob owns a pet, when they clearly don’t even like them! I love my cat. I also like being clean. The solution is quite simple – I wash my cat with bleach every day.
Not really. Please don’t wash any cats with bleach; it’s highly likely that the cat in question will scratch your eyes out in protest…and you’ll totally deserve it.
