Barbara Lippert's Critique: A Whole Lotta Sniffin'

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Ever notice how much sniffing has been going on in advertising? I don’t mean the nose-to-the-heavens, upward-shoulders, smiley deep breaths of the 1950s, but something more on the level of trans-species snout action: covert, nonstop, nostrils-buried, just-this-side-of-fetishistic inhalation.

An early entrant to this year’s advertising sniff film festival was a PG-13-rated spot for McDonald’s in which a husband inadvertently puts a McD’s french fries wrapper in the dryer instead of fabric softener. Later, he can’t help but be aroused by the alluring vegetable-oil (no more animal fat) scent of his wife’s blouse.

Next, Burger King upped the ante to R with its entry: A short, stocky office guy in a sweater vest spots a discarded BK wrapper on a female colleague’s desk.



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