Mar 11 2008
Nice Beaver!?
This is definitely one to go in the “things that make you go hmmm” category. Or “WTF”? Watching late night tv last night, I saw the most bizarre ad. Let me walk you through it.
Woman goes to hairdressing salon with beaver. Beaver sits under hair dryer and has nails painted along with the woman. They go to the beach. Two bronzed up lads stand and gawk gaze admirably at the woman and beaver. Woman and beaver go to a restaurant. Woman slides present across the table to the beaver who opens it excitedly. It’s a packet of “U®” tampons.
Voice over: “You’ve only got one. So for the ultimate care down there – make it U”.
Here’s the ad.
What do you think? Bad taste or funny? How many women refer to “down there” as a “beaver” – really?
I wonder if they are planning a follow up with a cat 😉 ?
Update: Leigh also posted Look after your Beaver, you only have one and has an interesting discussion about the naming of “down there”.
Duncan has the nitty gritty about who created this ad in Ultimate care for beaver down there. He also displays two shorter ads which I hadn’t seen – one where the beaver dries itself with a pad after a shower, and another showing the beaver trying to chose between a g-strip or full briefs. 😮
31 Responses to “Nice Beaver!?”
I gotta go with bad taste. You don’t hear many women refer to “down there” as beaver. That’s more a blokey term for the nether regions of the female anatomy.
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There’s a reason why ads like that are on late at night!!
I must admit I laughed. But it was pretty bad taste (maybe that says something about my sense of humour :)) I’m thinking that the only people this ad will appeal to is guys, who probably aren’t the biggest consumers of tampons…
Everyone’s blogging about beavers today! Such an exciting topic *hehe*
Leigh’s last blog post..Look after your beaver, you only have one!
I would like to say bad taste, mainly because the beaver label is kind of gross. But i think the add is really funny after i got over my initial shock at how blatant the reference was!! It get peoples attention anyway! however i can’t imagine this lasting long in a prime time advertising position!
WTF???? I think that they have their marketing upside down or back to front. Beaver is not the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about my nether regions.
I definitely think that there is more guy appeal. And yes, bad taste.
Oh and could you let Leigh know that I can’t get to her blog, it starts loading, stops and gives me a message about being a large mammal ????
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If a bloke is allowed to respond… The oddest thing for me isn’t that this technique of word-play is being used, but that the word is “beaver” which is really an American usage. Here in Australia you’re more likely to hear “pussy”, “fanny” (perhaps outdated?), “vag” or just plain old “c—“.
I meet people from an incredible variety of backgrounds, but have never heard “beaver”. Certainly not from a woman.
My guess: It’s a US-produced TVC which has been cheaply re-voiced for the Australian market.
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It’s rare to hear one call our ‘friend down there’ a beaver… the only time I heard it was when a girl friend of mine called a clean shaven one a beaver. I don’t really think its bad taste… maybe just a advert faux pas. If a cat was chosen it would really really REALLY be wrong.
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Is there anything they can’t turn into a Tampon ad?
Bad taste ? more of a little off haven’t heard it referred to as that LOL but a cat BAD TASTE !
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Beaver is something I associate with American teen movies like Porkys, American Pie etc. So, marketing tampons to teenage boys strikes me as an odd tactic???
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I chuckled although now i think about it they (her and the beaver) seemed altogether too close for how you get with a rodent for my liking.
It also reminds me of GoDaddy’s Super Bowl ad that got rejected for showing during the Superbowl this year which were rejected for calling a Beaver (rodent) a beaver. (Godaddy is a domain name registrar btw, not an odd name for a porn site
)
[…] currently-running TV advert with a nice beaver. I encourage you to join the conversation there about the use of the word. Has the advertiser got […]
Bad taste definitely. Never heard of it being referred to in those terms. An ad that would put you off. I’d probably stop using their product out of revolt.
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Yeah, it kinda put me off too. The damn rodent had a beard !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cracked me up. I saw it first on Leigh’s blog though and her take on it probably set me up to laugh.
But then I have a very warped sense of humour anyway…
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I occasionally use the term and have done since the GBS* in Basic Instinct.
I want to see the cat version done in Australia! Excellent work Meg!
*Gratuitous Beaver Shot
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Ultimate Care for Beaver Down There…
Kotex, a Kimberly Clark brand, is promoting U By Kotex feminine care products in Australia with an advertising campaign using a beaver (an American vaginal euphemism) to refer to the ultimate care ‘down there’.
Pamper
A woman pampers her b…
To me beaver is an american word that always reminds me of the Primus song, “Winona’s big brown beaver”.
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Well, this post should give you some interesting search results at least. 😉
I too saw the ad and thought it was in somewhat bad taste but at least it was funny instead of cringe worthy like so many of those feminine hygiene ads are.
Cheers,
Snoskred
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The pad as a towel was a bit too much for me *eww*
Did you ever think you would rank so well for those search terms Meg LMAO
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Snoskred & Leigh LMAO 😀 Can’t really bitch about it, because I should know better.
But now the main stream media are finally onto the story, they’ll hog the search results 😉
Here in the US, as crude and tasteless as many of us are, this ad would still bring loud protests if it ever managed to gain airtime at all.
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Are you trying to corner the beaver market meg? 😛
swollenpickles’s last blog post..Tyra Banks sports camel toe
I thought this ad was great – really funny and a nice change from the usual.I hope they dont pull it…
I am over everyone being do ‘politically correct’.
From the Kotex press release:
Kotex has defended its portrayal of the female genitals in its bid to sell feminine hygiene products.
Penny Warneford, who is helping to run the company’s latest advertising campaign, said the product range was targeted at 18 to 24-year-old women, most of whom had euphemisms for their genitals.
“People use euphemisms to make themselves feel more comfortable about talking about their own anatomy,” Ms Warneford said.
Kotex research found people in that age group had 181 alternative names for the vagina and 94 per cent said they used nicknames for their own genitals.
The term “beaver” was the 11th-most used by the people surveyed.
Ms Warneford wouldn’t say if the controversial ad featuring the beaver would need to be cancelled.
“We really have to go through this process before we can comment like that,” she said.
“There have been complaints and we haven’t seen them yet.
“The advertising is the result of extensive research which is right on target.”
I rarely buy tampons and have not heard that euphimism since I lived in Leave it to Beaver Land. Funny in an odd way.
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Hi Colin
Leave it to Beaver eh? I remember that show.
Hey, maybe they could have a spin off from the tampon ad ” Leave It With Beaver”
I just put in a complaint to the Aust Advertising Standards Board about the “Beaver” ad. I found it degrading. Advertising companies assuming that Australians have the same views as Americans. I have never heard of a woman refer to her vagina as a “beaver”. Can you imagine going to a doctor and saying thtat your beaver seems to have some issues?
Alternatively, bring on the ad with the guy with a pet slug!
I’ve always thought this brands advertising was on the tacky side – but this ad is so distasteful. It’s pretty much the only product in the super market I will not buy based on advertising alone, even when on special (and I’m a sucker for specials).
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