Sunday, July 30, 2006

Zero interest

Why can't all good things in life come without downsides?

It's like girlfriends without the five year plan

It's like bras without the fumbling

It's like stag parties without the wedding

It's like blind dates without the psychos.


With this kind of attitude you almost expect to see the slogan "Coke Zero: We don't want to sell it to girls".

Apparently Coca Cola were concerned that low calorie drinks were primarily favoured by women, so with the launch of their new product Coke Zero in the UK they have done everything possible to ensure that any woman who has actually seen an advert for the stuff won't touch it with a ten foot pole.

Cathryn Sleight, marketing director for Coca-Cola GB, said: “We're launching Coca-Cola Zero to offer people as much choice as possible. The new brand joins the Coca-Cola family, alongside original Coca-Cola and diet Coke.

“With our creative and media strategy, we're confident that we've created a campaign that's not only entertaining and engaging for a young male audience, but one that will excite them and ensure that they can't miss the fact that Coca-Cola Zero has arrived.”

She did not explain why engaging a young male audience relied on alienating the entire female audience, but I'm sure it's some clever marketing strategy.

The advert containing the "psycho" reference has now been removed from adverts in Scotland after complaints from Scottish mental health campaigners, according to The Scotsman. Unfortunately it seems nobody has complained about the entire campaign being misogynist. But I suspect most people who are as irritated as I am by the whole attitude of the campaign will vote with their wallets.

You can see the main TV advert here.

8 comments:

Snard said...

Since I live in the US, I've not seen this ad, and apparently visit4info.com won't show me the ad without registering...

But anyway, I've seen Coke Zero on my storeshelves before. I actually bought a 12-pack, and after tasting it, I decided that I liked Diet Coke better. (To me, it has the same 'after-taste' that Diet Pepsi has, which I don't care for.)

I wish I knew why there was a need for two different no-calorie unflavored* Coke products. Maybe one of them has testosterone and the other has estrogen?

- Snard

*By 'unflavored' I mean without lemon, lime, cherry, vanilla, rhurbarb or other add-ins.

Marionette said...

Pepsi have Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Max. Pepsi Max is also marketed toward a more male demographic with a kind of "extreme sports" cool angle, but manages to do so without the unpleasant misogenystic aftertaste.

I don't know why the link doesn't work for you. Did you try the download button? That requires registration, but if you look at where it says "select version to play" you should be able to view it online.

Sleestak said...

Still better ad then the 1998 American Godzilla showing up in current Dorito's commercials

Anonymous said...

As a young male myself I have to say this totally alienated me

The whole "men want mindless sextoys for mates and hate compromise" really insults me as a man, they're basically telling all men are stupid asses that want to screw women but in fact hate their guts (paging Dr. Freud!)
I can't think of anyone I know who would like the kind "lifestyle" that commercial promotes

and that's without even going to the whole misogynistic message that has

Is the anyone this thing doesn't insult?

Disintegrating Clone said...

Justin Quirk in the Guardian did a great demolition job on this piece of crap. On balance, I think I'd rather drink battery acid.

Anonymous said...

"She did not explain why engaging a young male audience relied on alienating the entire female audience, but I'm sure it's some clever marketing strategy."

Evidently you haven't noticed how often advertising aimed at women makes a point of insulting men.

Marionette said...

There is no evidence to suppose that at all.

I agree there are adverts aimed at women that are insulting towards men. I don't like them either. I don't like it when anyone thinks that the way to big themself up is to put someone else down.

Just because I focussed on one instance of this practice that was particularly irritating me (not least because it is a product I would try if I hadn't been so put off) is no reason to assume that I am unaware of others. But if you know of a particularly offensive misandronistic advert then by all means write your own article about it.

Harvey Jerkwater said...

Hm...you know that somewhere, an ad agency patted itself on the back for being "brilliant and edgy" when they came up with this. "Let's push the boundaries! Let's be outrageous!"

Le sigh.

One should be careful when striving to be "edgy" and "outrageous" when one has the intellect and wit of a drunken hedgehog.