Flush-a-Brush
So S.C. Johnson, a family company, thinks disposable toilet brushes are the wave of the future. And they're probably right. I can totally see these in every home in America in the year 2004. Wait, isn't this 2004? For us it is. The S.C. Johnson company got left back sometime in the early 1950's. At least, this commercial would strongly suggest that...
Their recent commercial for Fresh Brush combines many commercial elements that make me cringe. First off, it's one of those spots where some spokesperson for the company goes out into "real" America to talk to "real" folks. You've seen these a lot with cell phone ads. The annoying spokesguy asks Regular Joe & Judy how they like their cell phone plan and Joe and Judy are like "derrr... we always go over our limit cuz we can't friggin count minutes" and the spokesdork tells them they can switch over to Verizingular or something and get a great deal. Yahoo. Several years ago, there was a series of spots for Gain featuring "The Gain Man"... he'd go to people's houses and give them some detergent and make them use it in front of him and then smell their clean clothes and be like "ahhh this rocks!" And the Gain people would tape it all and put it into the commercial -- and this is assuming it wasn't all staged, which it probably was -- and we were supposed to fall in love with Gain.
Well, the format is back.
Okay, so S.C. Johnson's obnoxious spokesman must, of course, drive to the victims' homes while videotaping his travels. He takes the freeway. He could have cut seven minutes off his time taking the expressway, but he's an idiot, so he doesn't.
Annoying spokesguy vists the homes of two women. Upon his arrival, the women come outside their houses looking all bewildered, yet overjoyed. It's kind of like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, only this guy would be Ty Pennington's creepy third cousin, and he's not there to redo their home, he's there to give them toilet brushes. (Oh come on, you know if it was you, you'd be thrilled...)
Oh yeah, she's thrilled.
So there's not a whole lot to the product; they're friggin toilet bowl cleaner things. They can be flushed. Biodegradable, how awesome. I mean, the product itself isn't totally stupid. It's just the way they're selling it... it's the way these commercials always seem to sell these products. There seems to be a formula to it: Hire women. In fact, hire really strange-looking women who look like they don't get out much...
...oh, and if you can hire an actress who looks like she hasn't washed her hair since June, that's always a plus. Then have the women appear like they don't do anything with their lives except clean... oh, and of course the spokesguy's arrival is the highlight of not only their day, but their entire existence. And let's just add to the whole "shlumpy housewife" image by having both the women be barefoot.
Okay, now there are a lot of things you could say to me right now to make me feel less angry toward this commercial. You could show me evidence that these were not actresses, but real women, and that they really were surprised that day by the spokesguy. And that they just happened to look like that and to not be wearing shoes on the day the guy came over. And that they didn't even think to put on something nicer, not even after finding out they might get to be on TV. Fine, I can accept that. Hell, I hate wearing shoes. But if a guy showed up at my doorstep and told me I was going to be on TV, I'd definetely put on some...
No, actually, I'd just think he was lying and I'd call the cops on his ass. Or kick it. But that's just me...
You could remind me that a lot of women DO clean their toilets... not only women who run, or help run, their household, but women who go to other people's houses to clean, for a living. I mean, I don't want to put down their job, because money rocks, and everyone needs it, and jobs rock, and the damn things are scarce so yes, I should applaud these women for working hard. Totally. Right on.
BUT WOULD IT KILL S.C. JOHNSON TO HAVE A GUY CLEANING A TOILET IN A COMMERCIAL? FOR ONCE? Balance it out a little, just try, come on!
In short: Cleaning toilets is a very hygenic thing to do, but for the love of monkeys, stop with the horrible gender stereotyping in your commercials, S.C. Johnson!
Effective? Probably. It seems like a pretty good product.
Overplayed? No
Obnoxious/Loud Music? No
Sexist/Gender Stereotyping? Um... I believe we've discussed this, but yes.
Extreme cheesiness? No
Repetition of annoying catch phrase or tune? No
Use of talking animals or other things that shouldn't talk? No
Use of disturbing images? Holy crap, yes. Plus, the "cleaning bubbles" look like friggin Langoliers.
My rating: 1/10. Yes, I hate it that badly.
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