Advertising, ad campaigns, ad agencies, and the people that make it happen

With all the brouhaha about recent advertising that recognizes not every woman out there is built like Kate Moss (who mainly retains that look through a cocaine fueled lifestyle that also requires her to hang out with her brain-dead major drug addict Pop-Star boyfriend, Pete Docherty) Now we have a complaint about a new ad campaign for The Body shop using a tag line that reads: “Know Your Mind Love Your Body.” The featured Rubenesque character – Which happens to be a doll - in the ads is known simply as, Ruby. The image of Ruby and the copy deliver an effective anti-Barbie marketing message that validates the feelings of the ads’ intended audience. The ad aims to reflect the values of a woman with a not so uncommon body type. So, guess who’s complaining about the campaign? No surprise here to read that the Body Shop received a cease-and-desist order from Mattel concerning the ad. Mattel’s contention was that the piece was insulting to the real Barbie and they demanded that the posters be pulled from store windows. Hello… Insulting to the real Barbie? Aren’t we talking about a doll here? How can you insult a doll? Particularly when, as you will read in my upcoming book… “The Ubiquitous Persuaders” – When the original Barbie doll was launched, they made two important modifications. To make the waist smaller and the boobs bigger. I guess, apropos the latest Britney news, the next one will have a shaved head.

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