A drop of balm and World War II might not have happened

Imagine there was a balm that could wash away all the problems in the world. Hard to believe, right? But that is the tagline of the campaign initiated by Comfort – Fabric conditioner, whose aim is to promote its brand as a life changing product. Personally, I consider their attempt a little too ambitious and in the same time surreal.  It would be great if things were so simple that the balm would solve everything. All focus groups would be thrown in the washing machine and the ideas of advertisers would be cleaned of repetition. No doubt the conditioner has its charm, but from here to confer it superpowers worth of stories for children it’s a long way. Even if we know that in the case of this advertising campaign we are talking about an intentional exaggeration, it is still not easy to agree with it.

It's hard to believe that the conditioner has an effect so powerful that it washes Hitler from all the warring impulses and turns him into peaceful Gandhi. The extremes in which the characters are situated are simply too far away so they can make a beautiful, unitary couple, because, after all, we are not talking about a balm that is plausible of dissolving all traces of impurity.

 Another execution displays Red Riding Hood and the wolf. Since when is the wolf the symbol of absolute evil and when did Red Riding Hood become a symbol of endless kindness? Or should we imagine that the feet of the wolf soaked into conditioner turn automatically into delicate Red Riding Hood feet?

What is more, I am not sure about the originality of the prints, as those from Lima Grey did something similar for Lenor,  and transformed real and fierce animals into cute ones. It is true that in the Lenor campaign there are no iconic characters, so the shocking element of the campaign disappears, but still it preserves the element of surprise. Perhaps the ads created by Ogilvy are memorable, but at the same time confusing. Their similarity with other fabric softener commercials doesn't improve the image. So overall I would not bet on a positive effect of the campaign.

Andra Androniciuc