Yesterday was a bit too sexy for a Monday, what with M&M’s encouraging infidelity and Carl’s Jr. disguising mushrooms as butt cheeks.
Today brings a campaign that will definitely put an end to all that out-of-context bedroom talk: it’s a series of condom spots from Cleveland agency Marcus Thomas which finds a creative way to argue that the client’s products are so thin that they almost feel like you’re wearing nothing at all.
Here’s the first spot, which obviously had to be titled “Grandmother”:
The campaign is simple as it juxtaposes the least enticing images imaginable over sweaty, heavy-breathing bedroom scenes shot from the protagonist’s POV.
Here’s “Cucumber.” Ouch:
Nice musical juxtaposition; can someone Shazam that orchestral piece for us?
Finally, “Disco Neighbor” may be the least appealing member of this unholy trinity:
We like the 80s softcore style with its mood lighting and what looks like a heretofore unseen Instagram filter.
The most interesting aspects of the campaign may be the fact that Marcus Thomas created it in near-record time on a shoestring budget of $100K and that the video comes to us courtesy of Getty Images and iStock, so none of the agency’s female employees and/or spouses had to appear in the ads.
Also: the client is “a wholly owned subsidiary of Okamoto Industries, Inc., Tokyo,” calls itself “a leading manufacturer of quality rubber and plastic products,” and claims to produce “one of the world’s thinnest condoms” (note the “one of” qualifier there).
The release tells us that this work’s target audience is 18-24 year-old college students, because of course the greatest concern for such young, dumb and full of something consumers is endurance.
Media: Video and pre-roll via Amobee, Foster City, Calif.
ECD: Joanne Kim
CD: Jim Sollisch
ACD/AD: Eric Holman
CW: Kevin Delsanter
Editor: Laurie Znidarsic