Great Ad 20: I Am A Virgin
Advertising Agency: Contract Advertising, Thailand ~Executive Creative Director: Manirat Banthukamphon ~ Art Directors: Kavin Sitsayanaren, Manirat Banthukamphon ~ Copywriter: Manisa Orprasert ~ Published: October 2008
If you have a commodity-type product and you do not quite know how to sell it, there’re 2 options:
The tedious, but certainly, a proven and effective method is to build a brand around it.
The fast and attention grabbing, but sometimes controversial, method is to pimp your product.
Just look at the above advertisement … It is really funny. Please, click on the advertisement if you can’t read the text, to see the magnified version.
The chicken is branded “S-Pure”. I don’t know what the “S” stands for, there are just too many suitable words starting with “S”. However, when you associate the brand with the screaming headline, “I am a Virgin”, the “S” could mean “So P…”, “Soft P…” or “Sexy P…”. Whatever it is, the mind goes wandering and fantasizing despite the fact that it is an ad about chicken.
The headline, “I am a Virgin” is also open to lots of interpretation, response and reaction.
- “So what?”
- “Are you sending an invite?
- Or like WhiteSpace commented at AdsOfTheWorld, “Not for long!”
- While another guest commenter brutally but truthfully stated the cruel fact, “then I was slaughteredand wrapped in plastic . . .”
And the copy makes me LOL. This S-Pure chicken is certainly health conscious – she eats, sleeps and stays untouchable in the purest environment imaginable. However, naughty readers will only remember these words, “Will you believe me … I truly am a virgin … Will you bring me home?”
I don’t know much about the guys in Thailand. If the majority of them are like other men I know, they should enjoy a steamy yet tender relationship with their chicken; and sales should be pumping high and fast. But I bet there will be those who will not be too hot about the S-Pure chicken style. Sex is dangerous, especially when used in ads.
Source of Ad: AdsOfTheWorld
4 Replies to “Great Ad 20: I Am A Virgin”
This ad is good. The concept is okay. Instead, the headline can change the connnotation of sex, to that of “make merry”. That shows the acceptance of the chicken to be ready through proper nutrition, grooming to joy and happiness to those who eat it with great relish! Howzthattt!
Your comments are right on target. Building a brand around it is a proven and effective method. I would certainly try to do that – BUT – in the meantime, sales could certainly be given a boast with the “pimp your product” appraoch.
I wonder how many % of those people who are actually buying chicken in Thailand reads English.
Such ad probably appeals to a small and ignorant population who never visited a chicken farm.
Let’s put it this way … there must be a market for the client and the ad agency to spend such money. And yes, you are right, they may actually be targeting at niche market.