It's Charmin, not Charming
I've been reasonably tolerant of the Charmin Bears for a while now. The cartoon bears replaced as toilet paper spokescreatures the legendary Mr. Whipple (RIP), an advertising icon that was neither animated, nor gross (although vaguely creepy to be certain). Previous efforts from the family of bears include commercials dedicated to not using too much TP (and who can argue with advice and products that avoid toilet cloggage), as well as a spot devoted to Charmin's new "Ultra Strong" variety featuring cartoon bears with a disproportionate defecation volume problem. But the newest effort from those lovable bears is truly the nadir of this campaign, targeting the legions of consumers who are concerned enough with "leave behinds" (insert your preferred slang term here) to theoretically make a brand decision based upon this factor. It's not just that we have cartoon animals featured in a national television campaign focused on the "leave behind" merits of toilet paper, but the demonstration components of this ad are so mind boggling that I thought it might be a spoof. To illustrate the superior (or perhaps it should be inferior) leave behind components of Charmin, the Daddy Bear grabs a vacuum and vacuums the butt of the Baby Bear. Then, cut to video showing a comparison between Charmin and the leading brand with the competition's offering having mucho leave behind problems when rubbed with a sanding block or something. I'm not prude, and have long thought that America's resistance to admitting that people have bodies and problems with them results in boring, mindless advertising - at least compared to Europe, Asia, Australia. And, I completely respect Charmin's right to run whatever commercials they desire, and according to an interview of one of their execs in Ad Age, this whole leave behinds topic was cited in consumer studies as quite a problem. (I've always chalked it up more to user error, than product flaw, but what do I know)? From a pure marketing standpoint, the commercial is an excellent example of specific benefits advertising. I mean how many possible ways are there to evaluate one TP from another? (price, design/style, absorbency, softness) Charmin focused on softness for years with Mr. Whipple. With the bears (who like South Park make unmentionable acceptable because they are animated), Charmin is tackling all the other brand attributes. It takes smart marketing and no small amount of courage to spend A LOT of money on a bear butt vacuum campaign. So on the surface, while a bit freaked out, I'm okay with the bears and their perversity, and actually admire them from a marketing standpoint. But where I really lose sleep is thinking about the process of getting this commercial made. Who got to handle the segmentation study that isolated the leave behinds-concerned customer audience? Who got to run the focus group with the leave behinds moderator's guide to confirm it? Who was the animator that had to draw a bear butt vacuum? For all concerned, this is no doubt a highly memorable piece of the future portfolio. Interviewer: "have you worked on anything I'd know?" Animator: "Well, I drew the bear butt vacuum for Charmin." Paula Abdul whacked out on Xanax or whatever on the #1 TV show. Miley Cyrus getting nekkid for Vanity Fair. Anal-obsessed cartoon animals. It's a classy period in American cultural history.
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2 comments so far
Chris says:
Great post. This, um, smells like wishful marketing on Charmin's part. It's classic marketing to try and find a new problem to solve to stake out new a new position and try to win some market share. But first you have to convince people the problem exists. Ham-fisted market research sure can help. I highly doubt if an independent third party did the research on people's concerns with bathroom tissue that "leave behinds" would rank very highly. I doubt whether most consumers would even think of it unbidden. But if you start asking: "Are you concerned about leave behinds?" "How many leave behinds have you experienced in the last 6 months." "How did you get rid of the leave behinds?" "Are you concerned that leave behinds are toxic?" I'm sure everyone can conjure up that rare, crappy, experience where they had to go on a recovery operation. And bingo, Charmin is convinced they have a new segment.
Eric Reid says:
"I’ve been reasonably tolerant of the Charmin Bears for a while now."
I love that - it sounds like if they keep pushing their luck, you're going to go to their house and punch them. :)
If the idea was to get others to recognize them, Bear-ass vacuuming is actually far tamer than where it could have gone. How much press would Charmin have gotten if they'd gotten Mike Judge to bring back "Cornholio?"
It doesn't seem like there is any "tasteful" way to sell toilet paper and speak to the advantages of the product without some risk. Either you create a metaphor (butt vacuuming isn't very subtle of course, but it's a way,) or you ignore the use completely and hope viewers can figure it out, right? In this case, the former only seems to be useful for people who don't know what toilet paper is used for.