It isn't just me. I've polled the office and the general opinion of the Energizer ad from DDB South Africa, which won the Press Grand Prix at Cannes, is cringeworthy beyond belief and leaves you wondering who would create something like that?
I can see what they were trying to achieve, but somehow the provocative mix of the children with one gaping down the other's trousers coupled with the line "The world's longest lasting battery" jettisons taste out of the window.
But that's only my opinion, the judges said it "spoke to a universal truth and could have come from anywhere in the world" and it apparently won with a comfortable majority. Really? I don't see that ad getting made here or in the US. Maybe life is different back home in Johannesburg
The Energizer work was supposed to detail the kind of mischief children can get up to when the batteries on their toys run out such as "showing each other their privates".
Jury president Craig Davis, the worldwide chief creative officer at JWT, described it as "extremely powerful and resonant, a great piece of work for a proper, grown-up brand. It also has its fair share of charm and is a catalyst for conversations".
Well what do you think?
It's an appalling ad, make even worse by the subliminal imagery of the battery-operated wand in the top left corner. How this over-sexualisation of children made it past the client, never mind the judging panel, is beyond me. Can advertising sink any lower?
Red dog and Gob we're the best executions in this campaign. I like the stategy, but the the tag could have been expressed beter.
Sorry - As could my typing!
Wouldn't have risked it had I been commissioning the campaign. Poor taste. Plus I don't even think it's funny, or clever. I'm surprised it's won any award let alone a Cannes.
Al
It may be a 'catalyst for conversations' but I'd imagine that most of the conversations would start with something like: 'Have you seen that dreadful ad for Energizer batteries?'
For me, at least, there was an unbelievable mental leap in the notion that if the batteries run out on the kids' toys then somehow that will leave them with no option other than to explore their genitals. Man, it isn't even funny. Looks to me like the kids in the picture have plenty non-electrical toys to play with should the batteries fail anyway so you just end up with an image of two kids standing in a very clichéd film set with one examining the other's willie for no apparent reason.
Even without trying to explain away the pink wand, it's a load of contrived crap which may explain why it's a perfect candidate for success at Cannes ...
these guys seem to love it !
thedenveregotist.com/.../the-cannes-press-grand-prix-winner
So far removed from what might actually connect with the real people (parents mostly, btw) that buy batteries, that you have to wonder is this ad just for Cannes or for actual media placement? And we wonder why people think advertising is a shameless profession...
Candace that's that what i was thinking, i wonder how many times this ad actually ran. One...two?
With due apologies to Craig Davis, the campaign does not evoke a freshness of idea one so eagerly looks for in a Grand Prix. Similar ideas have been done more than once in the past without even a glint of metal anywhere around. Or maybe the jury loved the retrospectiveness of the campaign. In that case, more power to chucked away ideas in dustbins around the world.
Yes compare this with the TV winner Gorrilla, I mean no contest.
Gordon Macmillan
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