Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Monday, December 17, 2007

I don't know about you, but...

Don't eat the bubbles!FADE IN:

INT SUBURBAN HOME BATHROOM EARLY EVENING

A TODDLER is busy SPLASHING in a bathtub filled with bubbles. He wears an amazingly huge grin on his face.

ON SCREEN
essential2splishsplash

VOICEOVER
It is what makes people, places and things squeaky clean and springtime fresh.

It is chemistry.

ON SCREEN
americanchemistry.com

FADE OUT:

--------------------------------------------

What?

Okay, so this is actually a print ad, but I couldn't help myself (whatever happened to that really crappy screenplay I wrote a few years ago, you ask?).

Nonetheless, chemistry?

Sure, if you refer to the combination of lye, water and natural oils as chemistry, which I do. But, I don't think that manufactured, petroleum-based bubbles gives me the feel-good warm fuzzies they were intending in this ad. More like the willies.

Squeaky clean? This must be playing on American's fear of bacteria, MRSA, bird flu, germs. Kill 'em! With chemistry!

Oh, yeah, and I really hate the smell of chemically manufactured "springtime fresh". It's right up there with "baby powder scent". Ick. I need to go wash out my olfactory system just thinking about it. With chemicals.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

For someone with chemical/fragrance allergies (like me) that photo/commercial would just make me itch.

At our secret santa exchange at our company Christmas party ... guess what I got? Stinky bath scrubs, face wash, and something else that I didn't have a chance to see because I slammed the box shut! I tried to be gracious but everybody knows I'm allergic so people were making "tut-tut" sounds as I walked back to my chair.

It was the secret Santa where you all have numbers, then the first person opens a gift, and the second person gets to choose between stealing that gift or opening a new one...and guess what. Nobody would steal my highly scented stinky gift! There were 43 of us and one of my table members actually moved the box away from the table to a side table as the stink was giving him a headache!

Ya. Chemicals. Schmear them all over your body and develop some itchy hive allergies. Great for kids!

Kristi said...

Ugh. Snuggle fabric softener. I once refused to stock the stuff at the drugstore I worked for. Made my eyes itch, and I'd get wheezy. I still can't walk by it without that feeling. Help me if anyone used it on my clothes.

No other chemicals bother me like that stuff. And I worked in chem labs for 11 years.

Some places have instituted fragrance free zones. They have the right idea.

Tara said...

As someone who works in the ad biz (don't boo me off the comments page yet... As of Jan 1 I'm changing my business to promote only products that are good for the earth, body or spirit... gotta take a stand somehow, I just couldn't create one more chemical anything brochure!) I can pretty much guarantee you that the account executive walked in and told the creative department to come up with something happy, to appeal to moms, nothing too scientific, try to hop on the natural bandwagon, etc. I doubt if the creative department that produced the ad even knew what was really in the product or what the company actually manufactures. When I was at the agency I was the "natural girl" and got the parks and more natural accounts but if someone would have come in and told me to create a really great campaign for toxic sludge I had to do it or lose my job. The downside of agency creative work...

Crunchy Chicken said...

sandy - that's like giving booze to an alcoholic. Nice!

kristi - I hate Snuggle too. The scent, not the bear.

tara - I don't blame the ad companies for these types of ads, it's the people that choose them that are annoying.

DC said...

From EWG:

"In an online survey of more than 3,300 parents, EWG found that the average child is exposed through body care products to 27 chemicals a day that have not been found safe for children, including some associated with cancer, brain and nervous system damage, allergies and hormone disruption. These chemicals are common ingredients in baby shampoo, lotion, diaper cream, sunscreen, and a number of other children's body care products."

You can read the full article here.

Nothing spells progress like a tub full of soapy carcinogens -- throw in a made in China PVC rubber ducky with lead paint, and you're set! No wonder Ernie's face turned orange.

Anonymous said...

Your wee-ones would have made far cuter models. Sans chemicals, of course.

Geggie said...

Ahhhh! I hate squeaky clean! The person who coined "squeaky clean" should be fired! Anything that makes your skin or hair squeak is NOT the right product for you. (I work in the natural personal care industry) and these kinds of commericals/ads drive me crazy.

Tara said...

Not trying to place blame on the ad departments here – just wanted to point out the big blip in the information chain and how that turns into misleading ads. Most creative departments don't think to question the actual ingredients or process, they just create and, there you go, the beginning of the legal-but-misinforming campaign is born.
Obviously I wasn't too clear on that...