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I spotted this ad on the Queen Elizabeth line. Is it the worst ad of 2024? It's worse than Jaguar IMO. Way worse. What does it even mean? It certainly raises questions: 🧀 Is it saying your favourite cheese doesnt last very long, because you'll eat it quickly? And thus the ad makes no sense. 🧀 Or is it saying that your favourite cheese might last a few days? I'm just not sure that's how make up works. And thus the ad makes no sense. What type of cheese. Brie or cheddar? Who wrote this copy exactly? Could it be: ✍️ A writer who read the brief at 4.45pm on a Friday. 🍻A writer 6 pints deep at 8pm on a Friday. 🤖 ChatGPT. 🐭 A mouse. Because as absurd as those options progressively sound, they are more viable to me than a professional agency team doing this ad, because it is very bad indeed. And they say AI will kill creativity. This ad is evidence that AI is not required for that to happen. Lasts longer than your favourite cheese? What are you talking about?! Jag was just a weird mood board really. It didn't even feature a car. This by contrast, is overtly trying to sell someone a product. No I'm not the target market, but this ad just stinks (of cheese 🧀🧀🧀🧀). It's absolutely crackers (with cheese 🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀).
I recon it did its job as you’re talking about it
it could also be that an initially great line from a great writer was altered and tweaked and iterated and edited by the client / stakeholder. perhaps right up to the final seconds of the delivery date. perhaps over the course of 7 rounds of feedback, until the original idea was completely lost, leaving the original great writer in despair. it’s easy to blame the copywriter. but more often than not, it’s the process and all the amends and the stakeholders who jump in, fancying themselves as writers, who turn good writing into bad writing. (and professional writers and creative teams live in-house too, not just in agencies.)
The vital missing context for you. In Paris, "Cheese" is a local slang term for a male escort. Now you feel silly, don't you? Eh? Pffft. Trying to mock the poor copywriter who was so subtle he outwitted you. 😁
It made you think about it though, post about it and take a photo of it...
Why connect makeup with cheese....
James Carson I also wrote a piece on how terrible I considered this ad to be. It blows my mind that people are actually defending it (although maybe that says more about the platform). The whole thing is a complete afterthought and frankly people are giving out far too much benefit of the doubt if they think that it’s actually a well thought out campaign designed to get attention for the wrong reasons. It’s poor advertising and L’Oréal should be better. the end.
Why’s it only copywriters who have this habit of “calling out” other people’s work?
I've seen this ad many times because people share it because it's so bad. I otherwise would have never seen it... Does that mean it's actually really good?
James Carson If this ad is bad, then why are you all talking about it? Exsellent free publicity I would say. 🦁 .
Product Leader in FinTech | EdTech | SaaS | with 15 years experience in delivering outstanding products
1dI'm going to say it is a genius ad! It's a 'setting mist' which I am reliably told by my daughter stops your make-up getting messed up. So your make-up lasts longer than..... Some of the 'punchlines' are quite good but others are terrible (imo). The terrible ones are getting shared everywhere. Sure we scoff and say they are terrible, but they are being shared (for free) across TikTok and Instagram with millions of views with their target demographic. Genius!