There’s a whole load of ads around at the moment which tap into the theme of female friendship. Let’s call it the Sex and the City effect. That TV series and movie franchise was an exploration of the close bonds between a group of girlfriends, with rather a large serving of consumerism on the side. A celebration of friendship and shopping in equal measure, one could say. And given that young, single, professional women have a lot of disposable income (relative to other groups anyway) it’s ripe territory for advertisers.
We're friends - with designer handbags!
To be clear, when I say the SATC effect I don’t mean the endless brand associations grafted uncomfortably on to the SATC movie releases (has a movie ever been so shamelessly pimped out?). I’m talking about women being represented as characters in a group of female friends, rather than in relation to their husband / boyfriend / children. Everyone’s at it these days: Kinder Bueno, Ryevita, Glade and WeightWatchers to name just a few. I think one of the first to do it convincingly was Boots for their “Tis the season to be Gorgeous” Christmas ads.
Helped along by the stomping “Here Come the Girls” soundtrack, the ads capture the excitement and anticipation of getting ready for a big night out. Kinda like a girlie version of the mirror scene from Saturday Night Fever. Handily enough, getting ready involves sprucing yourself up with lots of cosmetics, lotions, potions and fragrances which gives Boots the opportunity to show off loads of the products they sell.
Another brand, and this time an Irish one, which does the whole “girlfriends” thing well is West Coast Cooler with their “It’s Showtime” ads.
Now, I’m more a pint-of-Smithwicks than a West Coast Cooler kinda gal but I’ve got to hand it to the guys who have been doing the WCC ads over the past few years. They’ve changed the perception of the bubbly wine spritzer drink from something your Auntie Eileen might have had a few of back at your Holy Communion in 1992, to a drink you wouldn’t be embarrassed to order at the bar for yourself. The latest incarnation of the WCC ads features a bunch of girlfriends doing their getting ready routine separately before meeting up and striding into a bar together; clearly on a mission to get locked on West Coast Cooler Rosé and shift one of the lads in the band who have been surreptitiously stalking them all night.
So another genuine product link there: booze and friendship. But butter and friendship? Seems a bit tenuous to me. The new ad from Low Low features a bunch of cailíns out at a club having a whale of a time dancing to “Kids in America” by Kim Wilde. They like that song a lot - they screech it in the taxi on the way home after the club (maybe to drone out the sound of Q102). Back at home they eat a whole heap of toast covered in Low Low butter - personally I would have just gone to Zaytoon. Unfortunately I can’t find the ad online but if you imagine a bunch of sweaty women in their late twenties trying too hard to be best friends while eating toast in fleecey socks you’ll be close. There’s also a billboard campaign to go along with the TV ad. Not that I knew what it was for until I stared really hard at it, because it’s actually a poster of shoes. I don’t have a photo of it either so here’s my artistic impression:
What the hell has this to do with butter?
This is either:
a. Advertising so good they don’t even need to show the product. After all everyone in their target audience will have seen the TV ad and be able to make the connection to the poster, or;
b. Most likely to be misunderstood by 80% of the people who see it.
I’m veering towards b.
Have seen said Low Low ad and have indeed wondered what the hell it has to do with butter? Remember the good old days when we simply had a few shots of cows in fields, nameless farm workers doing their bit, or a factory showing how the butter was made? Yep, times sure have changed! This is almost like those Irish surfer ads from a while back to promote rashers (i think it was). Next we’ll have some hip nightclub-set blarney to promote good ol’ Mr. Brennan’s bread!
Another great post Éilish. I remember an old butter ad with a fella in from the pub and raiding the fridge as his Mammy shouts down to “Go easy on the eggs, go easy on the sausages…” She doesn’t mention going easy on the butter, so (if my memory serves me correctly) he scoffs the lot. With a spoon. Or something.
My point is, the whole butter-as-a-post-pub-snack isn’t a new thing. In fact, it’s just as shit a concept as it always was.
Oh dear, i don’t remember that particular ad Sweary but a pound of butter as a post pub snack… mmmm… Dr Atkins would approve!
But lads, who’s taking the horse to france??
I love your artistic impression! I was a bit puzzled by that low low ad when I first saw it. I have never eaten toast with my gal pals after a night out. I guess I’m not a real woman.