Project Mayhem

Waiiiit a minute. Hold on. Stop. What the f*&%??!

That’s what I said while watching what turned out to be a commercial for Always minipads or maxipads, or whatever, by Proctor and Gamble. My Tivo was on the blink so I was doing what I always do when commercials come on – reading. Then, suddenly, Boom!, there it was: Have a happy period. I could almost here the crash of the collective number of shoes women were flinging at TV screens all across America. Are you kidding me — a happy period? Whoa! That takes balls. (Pardon the gender jump.)

So, here’s a quiz: Select from the options below the answer that best describes the person responsible for coming up with the idea that a woman’s period is “happy”:

¨ A 90-year-old woman who was so beyond her period she considered it a blessing to have ever of had one … whatever or whenever it was.

¨ An English professor looking to raise awareness about the lost art of punctuation.

¨ A 35-year old creative director at one of the most prestigious ad agencies in the world. (Hint: He is a he.)

For all those who picked the third one, congratulations, you have just won an epidural-free birthing process, complete with your own Bedazzler!

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, from Leo Burnett, the renowned ad agency that brought you the likes of the Marlboro Man, the Pillsbury Doughboy, Tony the Tiger and the Jolly Green Giant comes the happy period, the Jolly Period, if you will.

[Note to creative dude at Leo Barnett: Please read “The Female Brain” by Dr. Louann Brizendine. Okay, at least read Chapter Two: Teen Girl Brain. It’s about what happens to a girl’s entire body when she experiences a period. C’mon, man, if you’re going to promote it, you have to know it. That would be like asking the Pope to write a book on “How to Pick Up Chicks”.]

Yes, I think we’ve all seen the mock letter that some woman supposedly sent to Proctor and Gamble ripping them on their ad, but since this blog is supposed to be about being creative, I chose instead to use this as an opportunity to once again say: Do not force a creative approach or idea. Don’t fall in love with something just because it’s yours or just because it’s different. It has to make sense. Otherwise, what you have is a really cool, innovative, groundbreaking and completely ineffective concept.

Now, I’m sure the good folks at Leo focus tested the crap out of this ad and had good cause to run with it, so I only have one comment and it goes out to the ladies in the focus groups: In the words of Jay Leno, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING??? My God, if we let creative run irrelevantly rampant like this, think about what other erroneous tag lines we could soon be forced to endure:

Charmin: Have a great one.

Imodium D: Shit happens.

Preparation H: For Hemorrhoids on Steroids.

Exlax: Life is a bowl

Compound W: Beauty is only skin deep.

Pampers: Good things come in small packages.

– Jeremy