This commercial, for a product to help women prevent
post-menopausal hot flashes, takes an extremely odd approach to its message. I
mean, not in the things they show, which is women removing extra layers of
clothing when they feel hot, but rather, in the manner in which they present
this scenario. For you see, accompanying this innocent-looking footage of women who are obviously uncomfortably hot, trying as they are to adjust their temperature by
removing excess articles of clothing, is this silly-sounding old-style
burlesque stripper music, played on some sultry, teasing saxophone. This is
amusing to be sure, but isn’t it demeaning to their target clientele
demographic? It just kinda seems that way to me. (I would have thought they
might want to be more sympathetic or empathetic towards the women in the ad
experiencing the hot flashes, rather than exploiting or ridiculing them, which
is what it feels like. But it is probably more fun for everyone else to watch
like this. It’s just that it seems to me that if you make fun of your specific
market, you might not sell much to them. Of course, I could be wrong about
this, but that’s just how it seems to me. Maybe schadenfreude is really in
right now.)
Oh, and another thing: Doesn’t i-cool sound like an app that
turns your iPad into an air conditioner or something? These days, anything with
a lowercase “i” in front of it seems to virtually scream: “iPad/iPhone App!!!”
Here’s the cool-claiming commercial:
