Swifter: Man Up is clever, funny, great advertising aimed at men

America loves a good comeback story. Back when the Olympics were on television there was a series of commercials with the tag line ‘Thank you, Mom.  P&G, Proud Sponsor of Moms’.  Prior to that there was the whole Pampers, so easy a dad can do it campaign.  Personally, neither campaign spoke to me in a negative or positive light.  The second one was a bad ad campaign and the first had a bad tag line, but I could understand who they were aiming for.

An element of P & G has seen the power of testosterone because their latest ads for Swifter are aimed squarely at men.  The ads are very funny, clever, relatable and not insulting to men.  Sure they’re jokey, but the ads prove the point that a commercial can be funny and true, without making your audience resent the company.

The branding on the Facebook page is good too.  Check out the tool belt that’s been accessorized with a duster, the wood paneling and the way that every panel is creatively done in a DIY type manner.  And they did all of this just for the chance to get a t-shirt.

This isn’t a paid or sponsored post.  We just like to point out the dads or guys in advertising that are good, bad or the topic of conversation.  In this case, P & G learned from their experiences earlier this year and created something that speaks to guys, in addition to their ladies.

This spot is hilarious.  It has cats, a crazy looking man and straight forward, no crap advice.

This spot is a close second.  We have throw pillows on our bed and they’re not comfortable enough to sleep on at night, yet they hang out on the bed during the day.  It’s like the island of lost toys for unacceptable pillows.

On the Facebook page for the contest a couple of ladies were complaining about the fact that their guy doesn’t do any house work.  “Mine needs to”, “I wish mine did” or “Well, I do not know any men like that” are a couple of the naysayers on the page.

Ladies, if your guy is not helping with the housework it is your fault also.  If it really bothers you speak with them and tell them to help with the chores, it’s not rocket science.   However, it’s also possible that you’re gatekeeping the cleaning all to yourselves because you don’t think they’d do an adequate job.  Let it go and ask for help if you really want it.

That’s my two cents.  I’m going to watch the spot about the guy cleaning floors again.   Thanks to The Real Matt Daddy and The NYC Dads Group for putting the information on their Facebook pages.