Thursday, March 22, 2012

@Huggies Changes Ad Copy After Fallout With Fathers

If you read this blog regularly, you already know about how dads responded to the most recent Huggies campaign "Dads: The Ultimate Test".  I have talked about how I felt about the original campaign, but in case you missed it, this pretty much sums it up.

Huggies Ad
Photo Credit: Chris Routly of DaddyDoctrines.com

I have also explained how I was invited to talk with the folks at Huggies about how they could have done this better.  I want you to know that Huggies is delivering on their promises thus far, and I want to share the latest ad copy changes with you.

If you have not seen the original commercial, you can still see it on their Facebook page for the time being.  I was told that it would be removed at some point, so I wanted you to see it while you have the chance.  Here is the ad copy in case it gets taken down:

"To prove Huggies diapers can handle anything, we put them to the ultimate test - dads... alone with their babies... at nap time... after a very full feeding.  Can the leaks stay locked through a long, milk-induced slumber?  "No leaks here." Grab a dad, and see for yourself how compared to Pampers Baby Dry, Huggies all new Snug and Dry stops leaks better."  

I don't need to go on another rant about why this is so bad, the bottom line is that they should have been testing the PRODUCT and not the fathers.  Here is the new ad that will start airing on March 26th.  As you can see, the copy reflects what Huggies said was the original intention of the campaign - to test the Huggies PRODUCTS in real-life situations featuring real dads with their babies.  Well done, Huggies.  This is a fine commercial. Keep up the good work.


One of the largest criticisms I have been reading from people online is that our efforts were a waste of time, and that we shouldn't make such a big deal about a silly commercial.  I'm not afraid to say that those people are wrong.  When you hold a corporation accountable for the messages that they are sending in their advertising, you can, in fact, create a change in corporate culture.  That way, instead of Huggies continuing to promote the negative stereotype of the incompetent father, they now have a clear understanding of the type of messages we like to see. More importantly, we have started a conversation about how they can further embrace competent fatherhood in their marketing.  Are those positive results not worth the little bit of effort that we gave to spark a change?

5 comments:

  1. There could almost be a whole blog about "Dadvertising" and company's who are good at it and companies that get it wrong. I think more credit should be given when companies get it right. It seems I only hear the bashing. For example, Kellogg's had a great picture of a family with a dad in the middle and all his kids and wife around him on the back of their frosted mini wheats box. I'd like to hear more about which companies are ahead of the curve.

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    1. I actually agree with you, and I am currently attempting to rally some dads to collaborate on a Dadvertising blog. We'll see how it goes. I do try to call attention to companies that get it right and so do some other blogs (8BitDad and DaddyMojo for example). VW, Vicks, Pampers, Oreo, and Tide come to mind off the top of my head. Thanks for stopping by!

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    2. Cool, I look forward to checking it out!

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  2. That commercial is really good, really cute actually. ha! Much better than the original campaign. I cannot STAND when dads are shown as big dummies in advertising. It really undermines them completely. Good for you - and others - from bringing Huggies to task on the original crap campaign!!

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    1. Thanks Melissa! I'm glad that there are moms that don't think our effort was wasted and can see the potential benefits of eliminating the incompetent father stereotype.

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