Marketing to the Public, Does Sarcasm Work?

Old Spice has been getting major kudos for their hilarious ads online and on television. Former NFL wide receiver Isaiah Mustafa jumps on motorcycles, beats up piñatas, uses tools without looking at them, strolls on logs and bakes cakes while talking about smelling like an Old Spice man. Of course, he's vain enough to say, "Does your man look like me? No. Can he smell like me? Yes."

But not only is Old Spice making fun of cologne commercials and has Mustafa being over-the-top masculine, but Old Spice is also responding to social media comments on Twitter and Facebook. The video response for Demi Moore was entertaining enough to watch again.

U by Kotex also uses sarcasm with their tampon commercials. The Kotex model in the commercial made fun of tampon commercials with the girl in white pants who's racially ambiguous, has "good hair," is unbelievably attractive, 18 to 24 years old, and Kotex even clowns camera angles. "Do all these angles make me seem dynamic?"

So do these commercials make people want to run out to the nearest Chicago discount and retail stores to buy the products? I've solely been buying Kotex tampons for the past decade, and up until today, I never paid attention to the brand or the speaker at the end of the commercial. I was amused by the Kotex lady in the commercial, shrugged and thought to myself, "I'm never switching to another product." Joke's on me because I didn't realize I was still supporting Kotex. I'm elated to find out I am supporting their products, but I may have still been in the dark about the new Kotex product line.

Although I hear people laughing about the Old Spice commercials, I've yet to hear a guy go rushing into the stores to buy Old Spice cologne. Instead I see random tweets and Facebook links with people laughing about the commercials. So are the commercials counterproductive? No. Why? Even though I didn't realize I was already supporting Kotex products, if for whatever reason I couldn't get ahold of the SatinSoft Comfort-Flex® Natural Comfort Absorblend products, there's a 95 percent chance I'd look for this U by Kotex product second. I knew what the boxes looked like. I'd just never paid attention to the name.

Same for Old Spice cologne. I don't recall whether I've smelled Old Spice before, but if I had to buy a Father's Day gift or any other gift for a man, my first thought would be to ask him about this cologne since the commercials are amusing.

Getting people to remember a promotional product is the first step in making them curious enough to try them. I know nothing about sports and had no idea the Old Spice guy was a football player. What works for both commercials is anybody could've been the model, as long as they fit the profile, and it still would've been something to remember. This is marketing at its best.

How about you? Did the commercials change your buying habits?

Additional Notes: This entry was published by the Chicago Fragrance Examiner. To check out her fragrance reviews, visit the Examiner link.