Marketers Are Idiots - Dove Edition

I've noticed that Readers Digest is really skewing "old" in its overall editorial content. I'm sure they've done lots of research and the people who are reading it are the aging baby boomers, so it seems they are filling their niche and doing so quite well. Still, it seems the ads are skewing even older than the boomer generation. Take a look at this one that appears in the current issue:


This falls into the "what were they thinking" category quite well. The ad features a "mature" woman who is wearing her hair in a style you would typically find on someone a whole lot younger. But because this woman defiantly refuses to age or fall into any stereotype, she confidently continues to bleach her hair fully blond and wear it long. The very hard-to-read copy says, "try telling her it's too late for full locks." (Didn't anybody tell the people at Dove that large, easy-to-read type is appreciated by people getting older?) Even the name of the product - Dove Pro-Age - feeds into the whole "refuse to get old" theme.

The thing is, the model - and the way she is photographed - looks either like a guy in drag or a woman trying to fool us into thinking she's much younger than she is by wearing a ridiculous wig. In fact, she looks a lot like Rob Schneider when he appeared as a last-minute replacement for Lindsay Lohan on a recent Tonight Show!


At the very least, if they feel they need to buy into this stupid "I refuse to age" game, the should have hired a model who doesn't look like a professional female wrestler and them fem her up with "full locks." One thing I can guarantee you, this ad was created by defiant women who dare anyone to say anything negative about anything they do, but approved by men who are as clueless as can be!

Thank you Dove for proving once again that marketers are idiots!