The Poopy Pants Commercial
94 years ago, liar H.K. McCann launched his NYC ad agency with the slogan "Truth Well Told." That was a big fat lie. Advertising copywriter Copyranter brings you instances of advertising lies and the lying liars who sell them.
Alli, known to some of you as prescription diet drug Xenical, has racked up $155 million in over-the-counter sales in only five weeks. It's got a nasty side effect though—anal leakage. Sudden anal leakage. So a competitor has now prudently dramatized this sticky problem by showing a woman crapping herself while out to lunch with her friends.
Generix Labs, maker of competitive diet pill Leptopril, released this laughably amateurish video that looks like it cost about 20 bucks to produce. But at least the shitstain looks very real.
Even more amateurish then the video is the Generix spokesperson's mock shock reaction when none of the networks would air it:
"I can't believe they all rejected our commercial," lied Generix's Gina Gay. "The networks are willing to take GSK's [GlaxoSmithKline, marketer of Alli] money to run positive ads about Alli, [but] seem disinclined to offer the public the other side [the backside!] of the story."
A response letter from CBS read, in part: "We believe that the extended discussion and depiction of excrement fails to meet a premium standard of good taste and may offend a significant portion of our audience."
Me? I would love to see more of this negative smear (zing!) campaigning by advertisers. Forget your own product, sling the, uh, mud! "Drink Coke: Pepsi's slightly higher sugar content is more likely to rot teeth, cause diabetes, etc." "Eat Pork: the other non-bird-fluey white meat, etc." "Alpo: Slightly fewer chopped-up horse vaginas then Gravy Train, etc." Let the new age of comparative advertising begin!
