Procter and Gamble has introduced a line of products for boy 8-16 that has Moms offering up the high five to the mega-marketer. Seems kids begin to stink at earlier and earlier ages. Combine that with the power of peer pressure and girls who want their boys to look like male models, and you have a big market for mini-metrosexual grooming products.
Called OT for overtime, the line includes shampoo, hair gel, pomade, body wash, deodorant and antiperspirant. Thanks to P & G, now young boys can keep up with their similarly aged female counterparts who have hotted-up over the years to the point where a 13 year old girl now looks like a 19 year old hooker.
This didn't take long. Just days after the Bush camp launched their controversial new ad campaign, the spoofs are rolling in. In this spoof, Bush is called an "arrogant man-child" whose campaign promises for his "new America" are really a description of how healthy America was before he stepped into office. View it here.
Some of the victim's families of the 9/11 tragedy are upset over new ads from President Bush that show 9/11 imagery. While the Bush camp claims this is part of the Bush Presidency and part of the fabric of our country, others feel it is a slap in the face.
Tom Roger, whose daughter died American Airlines Flight 11 thinks that "to show the horror of 9/11 in the background, that's just some advertising agency's attempt to grab people by the throat."
I'd agree know that is the point of most advertising. To get noticed. Certainly the use of 9/11 imagery is controversial and will cause great debate. It is part of our past. It can't be forgotten. Using it in a political campaign may, though, be questionable. An opinion on this which I'd welcome and greatly respect would be that of Jeff Jarvis who was there.
Over at adland you can check out Pony's new print ad campaign which will feature the body part most served by Pony - the foot. And these are strange looking feet.
Yesterday, Nielsen announced the launch of their DVR rating system which will measure programming (but not advertising) viewership that has been "TiVoed." It's a welcome step but one that does not go far enough according to some. MediaCom SVP Tony Jarvis says, because of DVR's ad-skipping abilities, this data will be irrelevant if the system does not measure whether or not commercials are viewed.
Starcom SVP Research Director Kate Lynch has first hand knowledge of DVR viewership habits having conducted primary research on the device. Her research found 54 percent of TiVo users skip ads and as many as 77 percent do so when TiVo are used for playback or recorded shows versus using it to watch "live" TV. The research also found that most ad-skipping activity occurs on highly rated (and most costly to advertisers) shows such as "ER" and "Friends'." Because of a DVR's ability to control viewership over "regular" television viewership, it would seem critical to measure how the device is used to view commercials if the data where to be of any use to advertisers. Because, for the foreseeable furture, Nielsen will not provides this data, Lynch will continue to research this topic for her clients.
The issue really boils down to measurement of commercial viewership. The fact that people actually watch programming that contains commercials is irrelevant to an advertiser. All that matters to the business of advertising is who saw the commercial (and, ideally, what they did after seeint it). That fact that CSI is the number one show is irrelevant. We don't need a "top twenty" show list each week, we need a "top twenty" commercial listing. Of course a model such as this would have devastating affects since it would be revealed that most people, in fact, don't watch commercials which would cause ad rates to plummet and broadcast television programming to suffer with it. This leaves the television industry with a big question. Do we really want to know how many people are not watching the commercials?
