Of all the objects that could be said to need a dramatic revamp,
few can beat the image of men. So She magazine asked seven agencies to
come up with a campaign to relaunch the much-maligned male species.
We don’t knock creativity, but if there’s one thing we like to see, it’s
originality. So can anyone explain why three out of the seven ads - by
Ogilvy & Mather, Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper and the Leith Agency - featured
dildos?
Sadly, O&M’s attempt to combine wit with misogyny in its advertising
fell rather flat with the judges, Terry Christian and Katie Puckrik.
O&M’s first attempt at the ad carried slogans such as ’How do you know
if a woman’s had an orgasm? Who cares?’, and ’Why do women have periods?
Because they deserve them.’ Both judges rated it last.
The agency’s second attempt got a slightly better reaction, with
Christian liking the agency’s observations on ’how obsessed with sex the
middle classes were’. Puckrik, however, wasn’t keen on anything from
Canary Wharf and lambasted the agency for using the old ’men are not a
sex toy’ angle.
St Luke’s came out well in the emotions department with Puckrik
commending it for creating the only ad that addressed the fact that
women don’t objectify men. Christian admitted he knew what the agency
was talking about but just didn’t rate the ad.
She magazine’s design team even had a bash at creating an ad, using
sweet fatherly images of men with babies and the strapline, ’Don’t you
just love him?’. Unsurprisingly, the cute ads went down favourably with
the judges. Puckrik loved them, and even Christian embraced the baby
imagery.
Alas, Christian’s vote went to Mitchell Paterson Grime Mitchell, which
chose to be honest about men and their less-attractive features such as
being ugly, sweaty and boozy, as well as promoting the handsome, witty
side.
With the strapline, ’Why would we need a new image when we’re already
created in God’s?’, it was Christian’s favourite and Puckrik’s
second-least favourite. In case you hadn’t guessed, all but one of the
ads were created by male teams.
