advertising and other stuff. no, really.



Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Dove leaves you scummy people scum-free.



(Update: Original version of the spot was taken down. This a Hispanic version.)

Truth in advertising? This is what it sounds like, when Dove tries. Why did my head go immediately to CSI and a motel room crime scene with black light? Because that’s what it does, and that’s why you read. Note the caption: “artistic dramatization.” whoa, timeout. A play is an artistic dramatization. Demonstrations mean one thing: Real demonstrations. Like, Billy Mays pound my hand real, not some scientist on Dove’s payroll doing everything but what went on in that commercial. How stupid does Dove think people are? Very I guess.

This one’s the best though:

“If you could see the difference, you’d see that soap actually leaves an invisible layer of scum on your skin.” Um, if it’s invisible, then you wouldn’t be able to see it and nothing would be able to detect it either. What, did someone say black light home MythBusting challenge? I know I did! So I did a little unscientific experiment of my own.

Using what we had laying around, Dove, Irish Spring and Softsoap, I got out the black light to see what was up. Sparing you the near-electrocution, hold that damn thing at all angles to replicate what Dove showed above details, I am proud to announce that after washing my arm with all three soaps, there was not one bit of difference between them when viewed under the light.

Screen grabs from the video below:






Another trick? By simply moving the light closer to or farther away, it greatly affected the appearance of skin tone and blotching. Below, the same Irish Spring arm with light about six inches or so closer:










While the results also showed that nobody looks good under a black light, the good news is that my arm now smells like an Irish meadow! Another thing: The rinses off smooth part? Hmmm. They all rinsed off smooth. That test is flawed anyway because people don’t just rinse without also rubbing the soap off.

So yeah, Dove, if you guys need help on the re-edit for that spot, lemmee know.

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