Thursday, December 3, 2009

'Shiny Suds' goes dirty

The household cleaner marketer Method pulled down their viral video "Shiny Suds" supporting the Household Product Labeling Act because of allegations by some viewers that the ad is sexist.

The ad was the first by the New York ad agency Droga5 for Method after they landed the account recently. The video was a parody of traditional home cleaning commercials meant to support the Household Product Labeling Act that will require cleaning products to put the chemicals they use on the bottle of the products if it is passed.

The video shows a woman having a conversation with friendly bubbles from her cleaners who then turn into leering perverted creatures the next day and comment on her taking a shower and encourage the use a loofah. The ad has the message "You deserve to know what chemicals are in your cleaners."

While comments to Method about the ad were overwhelmingly positive and 2500 letters to Congressmen supporting the act were credited to the ad, some did not feel the ad was so beneficial. Commentators on the blog Shakesville posted about the ad, saying that it was degrading towards women and supported rape as a fear tactic for people to support the act.

Method responded quickly with an apology to people the ad may have offended and pulled the video from their campaign.

For more information about the story and to watch the video, click here.

I have to commend Method for their swift response and proper reaction in this little scuffle. The people who accused this ad of being sexist and supporting rape took the whole thing out of context and away from the true intent of the ad and were probably just looking for something to stir controversy. They influenced this important message from Method to be pulled off of the air for such a huge exaggeration, and it makes me wonder what they will target next for being overtly sexist. Oh no Old Navy, better be careful with those mannequins. Who knows what someone may say about women being portrayed as plastic clothes racks.

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