Call Me Amaesing A Niche of Tasks and Inspiration

Last month I had decided to purchase the second season of MadMen to keep in my collection. (Season 3 doesn't come out till March). Upon opening the DVD set, I found a neat product placement for Clorox Bleach- an insert ad when you unfold the CD elements.

For me, I believed that this was a new take on their position. Think about all the Clorox ads that you've seen in the past- mix with water and throw in plastic baby toys, rinse, so your family can be safe from dangerous bacteria/ keeps your whites white/ etc. Obviously Clorox targets the women in the household, but seeing this ad makes me think twice bout their position. Should wives be proud to see this when they stumble upon it? Here's a TV spot I found...

I then decided to do some research on this and here's some quotes through some blogs I found:

A Fish Named Freddy: The video clip was sponsored by Clorox. I would take a guess and venture to say that Clorox has traditionally advertised to women, who make up a large majority of their target audience. Nothing sexist about it, just saying that traditionally, women have done the laundry. The ad, posted below, made me question, are companies using Web advertising differently than they do TV or print?

After watching the ad, my first reaction was that it's catchy but my second reaction was to think that it's a bit risky. First, as a member of Mad Men's target audience (not Clorox's) I identified with the ad, mostly because it mimics the morals of the show. Second, I wondered why a traditionally family-focused brand (Clorox) would want to associate itself with successfully assisting men in committing adultery, even if it's all in fun.


BrandChannel.com: But according to a mystifying Clorox ad that seems to pop up every time I watch Mad Men, while mom's doing the laundry, her husband is off smooching his secretary. The Clorox ad features a man’s white, lipstick-stained dress shirt, and reads: “Clorox. Getting ad guys out of hot water for generations.” How are stay-at-home moms – the apparent target of all Clorox's other branding efforts – supposed to respond to this? “I’ll go get my husband some Clorox to help him cover up his numerous affairs”?

Follow Madmen.com post about commercial