Last night when I got home I took a little
nap in my recliner, and woke up when my
dog started howling like something was
seriously amiss. When I looked outside I
saw a squirrel about ten feet from the glass
doors, right smack in the middle of my
hounds territory. I didn't open the door for
him to chase the squirrel, which is what
he wanted.
I went back to my chair and turned on
the television and watched five minutes
of something absolutely forgettable, and
then a commercial came on.
You may have already seen this commercial
because I really don't watch a lot of television,
and use it mainly as a sleep aide.
The commercial was for Dove soap, something
I have never used, since I consider it a woman's
product. But I do remember many Dove commercials
over the years which mainly had to do with soft
skin, and no greasy film, or something close to that.
This one had a different theme altogether. It was
all about women and self esteem. (And soap)
It starts out on the premise that little girls have no
self esteem, or very little self esteem, and then goes
on to say that Dove Soap has sponsored workshops
on self esteem that two million girls have attended.
The girls now think of themselves as beautiful thanks
to the workshops sponsored by Dove, and so if you
are a woman with no esteem, or have daughters with
no esteem, you should attend self esteem workshops
sponsored by Dove. And, of course, you should buy
Dove Soap.
What a bunch of crapola.
If I was running that company, (Dove is a Unilever product),
I would have kicked that creative team down a few flights
of stairs with my sturdiest cowboy boots.
This is exactly what happens when you have low
self esteem people working on your behalf. They
want to project themselves into your life and try to
convince you to fix problems that don't exist in the
first place.
And that certainly couldn't be fixed by a bar of soap
and a celebrity.
Dove...the soap for women with low self esteem. And
their offspring.
And just in case the soap doesn't raise your self
esteem, you can go to the website, dove.us...and
order up free self esteem exercises for moms and
girls to do together. You can also get a DVD to learn
how to run a Dove Self Esteem Workshop.
And you can win...a celebrity hosted workshop.
I want the one hosted by Rosie O'Donnell.
Now after I kicked that creative team down several
flights of stairs I would bury them right next to the
guys who came up with the Budweiser frogs.
Self esteem and soap. They go together like good
wine and moldy bologna.
A quick check of the stock performance of Unilever
shows it isn't a stock I'd want to own. If they're wasting
money on stuff like this in one division, you can bet
it's the same overall.
From the big saddle,
Jim Whelan
The Chairman of the Board
P.S. I nominate the Dove ad for Worst Ad of the
Year, and you will really have to work hard to beat
it. But I can tell you this: In some large ad agency
there is someone working on it, trying their level
best to be the Best of the Worst.
thejamesrwhelanagency.com
206 407 3124
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