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Anyone else fed up with all the wasing powder/cleaning adverts?

11 replies

CuppaTeaJanice · 14/06/2010 19:36

It's always a woman (usually in beige slacks) doing the cleaning, being both obsessive and anal about it, and also failing miserably to live up to her own high standards. She'll get all flustered about a small amount of (usually invisible) dirt, then an expert (usually male, except the Vanish woman) will come along and show her what she's doing wrong.

Some examples...
(sorry I can't remember the brands on some of these)

The one where a girl's fairy dress has a slight stain on the front so she can't go to a birthday party until Vanish woman saves the day. What sort of evil mother stops her child from having fun at a party because of a stain? All the kids will be covered in crap after the tea anyway!

The one where she moves a plant pot and her son runs his car around the stain and then licks it. The boy's about 5! I'm sure his immune system can cope with a bit of potting compost.

The dyson ball vacuum - all the legs of the people doing the vacuuming are female, then James Dyson (male expert) comes along and shows them a snazzy new cleaner!

There was one a year or so ago where a teenage boy had a slightly grey looking school shirt. Surely he's old enough to do his own washing (or at least sort his whites from his coloureds) by then!

Febreze(?). Badly dubbed, although I suppose at least the son helps clean his room. 'You've got to wash this chair'. 'Mmmmmm........fresh!!!'

Can anybody think of more examples?

I know the companies have to demonstrate their products within an advert, but surely they can be more imaginative than portraying all women/mothers as dirt-obsessed clean freaks with nothing better to do with our time than stress over slightly grey shirts!

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Sammyuni · 14/06/2010 20:01

Every advert should be taken with the fact they are trying to sell in mind. They would love nothing more than mothers to be "dirt-obsessed clean freaks with nothing better to do with our time than stress over slightly grey shirts" because it would mean they would sell more.

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CuppaTeaJanice · 14/06/2010 20:08

They are so unimaginative though. If you think of any other product - drinks, cars, fast food, whatever, and there will be a whole myriad of adverts promoting those products in different ways. Even though within each category there's essentially not much difference between the brands, there's a much wider variety of advertising styles.

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Sammyuni · 14/06/2010 20:27

Yeah it's pretty unimaginative but there are some wacky cleaning adverts i think Persil has those soap opera like adverts or Bounty who has the most butch looking men racing to clean up a spill.

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Nemofish · 14/06/2010 20:30

I always wonder what on earth the son could be doing to that chair to make it stink so.

The mind boggles.

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Ryoko · 14/06/2010 20:33

I find this post funny I think you read too much into adverts but I agree with you about it being wrong it's always a women shown doing the cleaning, washing up and looking after the baby etc.

Can't think of any off the top of my head they all merge into one long cheese fest in my head(shows the advertising doesn't work on me because I don't remember the brands and which pearly teethed grinning brainless women was washing her sons football kit with what).

I do miss the proper Mr Muscle tho, bring back the weedy guy with his "mr muscle does the job so you don't have to".

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mrspear · 14/06/2010 20:37

Oh the one that really annoys me is the one where there is a man in a football shirt proclaiming she, as in DW, won't let me out because of a stain WTF

And breathe

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pointissima · 20/06/2010 07:50

And check out the children too. Whenever there is a "your house is crawling with germs, you need to protect your children!" advertisement- Dettol worst offender- the precious child is almost always a boy, the suggestion being that sons are more precious than daughters

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anastaisia · 20/06/2010 10:05

and if the men are doing the cleaning - the product is presented as a 'cheat' to make it easier/quicker; they aren't cleaning because they want to make things clean - they're cleaning because the evil wife figure is making them like they're a child.

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ImSoNotTelling · 20/06/2010 10:39

Oh i never realised the precious child at risk from germs was always a boy.

Maybe (being charitable) it is to reflect an idea that male children are muckier than female ones (who obviously just sit quietly in princess costumes all day and don't move) and that is why the boys are more at risk from "germs".

I have to say that most of these adverts work on me though . Especially vanish and cillit bang. That's why they do it - they are effective. They must know how their sales look when they are having a campaign and when they aren't IYSWIM. I guess ads take their lead from society, not vice versa. They are probably a good litmus test of how things are coming along (not much, is the answer).

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BouncingTurtle · 20/06/2010 10:42

There is one advert I found irritating, showed boys getting covered in mud. clinbing tress etc., and shows a girl making a chocolate cake.

FFS!!! Again reinforcing ridiculous sterotypes!