For as long as I can remember understanding spoken language,
I have been aware of the Trident Gum ad claim that: “four out of five dentists
surveyed recommend sugarless gum to their patients who chew gum.” This ad
strategy has worked for years, and apparently is plenty memorable on its own.
But the recent ad for Trident Gum showing what may have happened to the fifth
dentist to cause them to say no not only drives the claim/slogan even further
into my memory, it provides a wonderfully funny payoff to this advertising strategy
that’s been rattling around in my head for so many years.
So, as we all know, the survey of the five dentists takes
place, and they all say: “Yes!” (Presumably to the question of whether or not
they recommend sugarless gum to their patients who chew gum, but as we don’t
actually see the question posed, it could have been about anything. But I trust
ad claims, don’t you?), except for the fifth dentist, who I’m guessing would
have said yes as well, but you see, a funny thing happened: a squirrel ran
through the window and across the room and then ran up the fifth dentist’s leg
inside his pants leg, and then presumably chomped down upon his gonads, as an
in joke because squirrels like nuts. (Actually, the “nuts” joke is a bit much
for me in a gum commercial, but I love the idea of the fifth dentist having
something painful or catastrophic happen, causing him to say no, rather than
actually opposing the recommendation of sugarless gum to his patients who chew
gum.)
Here’s the silly sugarless squirrel spot:
And here’s an earlier version of the same ad from a few
years ago:
