Today I was looking for omelettes on Yelp, and I was assaulted by new hot-pink banner ads. I never click on ads, but the tagline for the FLING chocolate bar splashed across the page was so bad I had to check it out. Apparently, it is Mars' new product aimed solely at chicks. And it is HILARIOUS. Marketing tactics for the new FLING hit all stereotypical female buttons:
- "Naughty, but nice" I.e. you can be bad, but just pretend bad. How very satisfying.
- "Skinny!" Because clearly skinny is great, and the bars are skinny, and somehow they will translate into you being skinny. But, um, isn't part of the reason chocolate is good that it is full of things that DONT make you skinny? So, by definition, isn't "skinny" chocolate bad chocolate? Yes, probably. I'm not going to risk trying it myself, though, because it's...
- Sparkly! Yes, sparkly (according to this review). The actual chocolate has an iridescence to it. Dear god.
- PINNNKKK. But of course. if it's fer ladiez, it gots to be pink. the branding department here perhaps got sidetracked by guidelines for selling to 4-year-old girls?
I guess their whole concept is supposed to connote indulgence. The now-defunct New Zealand launch site even included virtual men with whom you could have “guiltless” virtual affairs. But it just feels pathetic to me. Satisfying one's urges to break the rules, live on the edge and cheat on your husband...by eating a glittery wannabe Twix bar? Please.
Conclusion?
Ads for lady chocolate: almost as heinous as ads for lady yogurt. Which segways sneakily into this genius piece of cinema:
Conclusion?
Ads for lady chocolate: almost as heinous as ads for lady yogurt. Which segways sneakily into this genius piece of cinema:
5 comments:
The second I saw the chocolate image in my Google Reader, I thought about posting a Target Women segment. It makes my day that you already know about this glorious series.
note: if it's foreign, skinny might mean made with skim milk. i.e. you order skinny lattes in starbucks in england.
not that ANY of this is thereby made any less ridonkulous
Meredith: you're being overly generous. Glad you took it back at the end there.
Barry: First of all, classy name. Well done. Second, glad I made someone's day. Now I can leave work early. Third, please DO post a Target Women segment. MORE MORE MORE!
Girl, you KNOW I had to get one as soon as I saw them. They are actually pretty good taste-wise and yes, covered in pink pearly goodness. It gets on your hands. At 180 calories or something like that, not really a "skinny" snack, unless you're eating only one bar. But what's the fun in that.
wow.thats ridiculous haha
the art of marketing i guess
im glad you posted this!
xoxo
neira
http://missneira.com
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