I want to start off by saying that I don't usually read into commercials like the author of the "Hanes Her Way" essay does. However, now that I think about it, the commercial doesn't really make much sense to me at all. As a young male, to me, underwear is underwear frankly. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with boxers. For women, however, I realize this probably isn't the case. As far as the ad, I definitely thought that the guy reminiscing about his mother and childhood after looking at a pair of old, dirty, worn out panties was weird, nasty, and most of all, corny. He must not have had a very clean mother or pleasant childhood. I really didn't understand how a wonderful marriage tied in with underwear either. I guess the advertisers were trying to display to women how wearing Hanes underwear will make their marriage everything they could ask for. This, however, couldn't be any further from the truth.
Honestly, I feel like simplicity is a must in advertisements. If the consumer doesn't understand your advertisement, then, obviously, it won't be very effective. On the other hand, if the consumer understands your ad, but it doesn't make sense to them, it won't work either. Overall, I felt like whoever wrote that particular "Hanes Her Way" ad, should go back to the drawing board and try again. I'm sure some people understood it and maybe even thought it was funny, I just wasn't one of them. At the end of the day, underwear is still JUST underwear, and will always be JUST underwear.
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You're right, underwear is just underwear. But what advertisers are selling isn't always just the product. One of the issues at stake is also the idea of selling a lifestyle. Buying Product A makes you a certain kind of person, connecting you to a Product A lifestyle. In this ad, the Haynes Her Way folks are trying to pair comfort with sexiness by placing the product in the context of a marriage. We all hear jokes about how when people get married, they let themselves go and stop worrying about appealing to their partner. This ad was trying to make the claim that cotton panties will get your man just as hot as a barely-there lace g-string. So what they're trying to sell is a marriage with a spicy-hot sex life, thanks to Hanes Her Way panties.
Good post!
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