"Mud Girl"
I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a TV ad campaign as much as I do Swiffer’s “What About Love” campaign. The term ‘clever’ has gotten kind of a bum rap in our industry. Why everyone knows that ‘clever’ copy has no substance to it – it’s just a cheap joke and nothing more. Often that’s true, but not in this case.
The “What About Love” campaign makes me smile every time I see it. Is it a cheap joke – yes – but what else is there to say about a mop? Nothing else that won’t get lost in the mundane and mindless drone of ads about household products. The campaign stands out in its use of tacky romantic clichés ‘cleverly’ tied to pick up lines – but the visual creative approach – the brilliance of dressing people up as mud, dirt and computer dust to give the tacky clichés ‘mopping’ relevance is wonderful.
"Nerd Girls"
The first of the series is the valley girl in her mud dress, heels and bag – how did they do that anyway? It looks so real! She scorns all of the filthy and disgusting germy mops that try to pick her up and is finally swept off her feet by the Swiffer mop as she utters her final line, “I like your pad.”
Next come the mud and dirt sisters. They may not have an acceptable mop in their sights – but at least they have each other. That is until dirt is picked up by the Swiffer mop and acknowledges, “You’re quite the pick up artist.” as mud looks on in distress. I can’t help it – I laugh every time.
Finally we have the Michael Scott look alike in his business suit fashioned from big fluffy keyboard lint. Michael lives ‘at the corner of J and K’ and hangs out at the “space bar,” and he too succumbs to the charms of the Swiffer dust cloth.
"Keyboard Guy"
The ‘clever’ lines alone would not cut it. The ‘clever’ lines perfectly timed and juxtaposed against the expertly designed and totally ridiculous costumes and high level production quality makes it a scream! They got my attention and made me think about their product far longer than anything else they could have done! Well done!
And for those of you on “Commercials I hate” who find these ads so offensive – there are plenty of dating services out there – don’t despair – get busy and find your special companion!
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