The brilliant ad-heads at Dove and Ogilvy & Mather are at it again with the launch of their latest campaign “Waking Up Hannah” , a choose your own adventure-type comedy featuring a twenty-something female protagonist who bears an eerie resemblance to a young (and equally grating) Rachel Ray. According to Dove brand building manager Barbra Owens, “Girls in their 20s are often dealing with a lot of pressure...It’s really about helping wake up and get a fresh perspective on what’s going on”. As one of their target twenty-somethings, this immediately piqued my narcissistic interests. Excited that they might want to join my pity party, I decided to pay Hannah a visit. Choose your own adventure books were my fave, and I do like smelling pretty when I get out of the shower. I hit play. Hey, that looks like my last Saturday night out. Everyone likes a party girl. Except she has an iphone and I don’t; point one against Hannah, but only because I’m jealous. Hannah’s day seems to be determined by the scent her viewer selects for her shower; a bit of a stretch if you ask me, but I plod along. Alas, that was only the beginning and soon I find my brain stretched like the Laffy Taffy I’m gnawing on for lunch (they do fail to highlight the poor eating habits of the twenty-something). Perhaps the breaking point comes when she tells off her boss in order to attend her blind date. I fear I’m too mature for Hannah, which sends me into a bit of a self-reflective panic spiral that I’m not enjoying my life enough for Dove to tell me to “wake up and get a fresh perspective”. I shut that panic spiral up by a swig from the flask of girly flavoured vodka I keep in my all-nighter stash at work, right next to my Dove deodorant. As a lead-in to the ad launch, the undeniable success of the previous Ogilvy & Mather “real beauty” efforts have helped create buzz for this campaign. The real test however will be Dove’s ability to re-connect with its target demographic, a group otherwise objectified by Axe, their sister company. The significance of this controversy has not been tested on a new campaign, and the results will be interesting. Waking Up Hannah is well intentioned, but after all, it’s just a soap opera.
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Comments
alishahnovin
The peculiar part, especially, was the older sister who comes off as someone who's given up her dreams, and settled down - you're almost meant to laugh at her - she's worried about shriveled ovaries, and living a stable life, having a husband is important to her, etc. While most Dove commercials seem to attempt to "empower women" I found it odd how the older sister was portrayed - almost as an insult to any woman in that position.
Hogan
alishahnovin
But it is not noble to ridicule the aesthetics, or praise it's content...?
Lilian
Another example are beer commercials where the majority of them feature some insane party where all the girls are supermodels in bikinis and the guys look like they're on ecstasy. No one who appreciates beer for the taste and not just a means of getting completely plastered will identify with it.
Unfortunately, there's a huge demographic of males and females who do identify with that lifestyle or at the very least want to incorporate it somehow.
KATE
You're totally right Leash. I hadn't given much thought to the sister character, other than her extreme uptight attitude, but the reality is she represents aspects of a life that many women (maybe a majority?) are working towards, and Dove has made a cartoon out of her. Now I know I've had nights (and morning afters) like Hannah...but I'd also like to get married and settle down one day like her sister. Am I not making my own decisions and living for myself if I pursue that? Sigh...I wish someone would give Dove a fresh perspective.
alishahnovin
That's why I feel all these commercials are just taking the wrong approach. We don't need a long back story, or even to identify with the characters. Just have them put on the deodorant/use the shampoo, etc. and just have real-life scenarios in which the scent is caught and someone goes "Hm... something smells good."
In fact, they should make that like the "Got Milk" campaign. "Hmmm.. something smells good."