I watch more television than I should, but that doesn’t give advertisers the right to offend me with their commercials.
There are probably hundreds of commercials that different people consider offensive based on their personal beliefs, but this is my blog so I’m going to name two campaigns on the air right now that make me NOT want to buy their products.
CASTROL EDGE “Think With Your Dipstick” (view commercial) Since when did it become OK to blindside assault a man in his front yard or at a bowling alley with a long, thin metal rod?! By a fake Scotsman in cliche Scottish attire. It’s not funny…it’s a FELONY. Getting whipped with a dipstick is very painful. Moreover, the faux-Scot yells a distasteful “stop thinking with your dipstick” at his victim…a ridiculous play on an even more exhausted cliche that men’s brains only exist in their penises. (note: no women are hit with the dipstick. Maybe Castrol believes women don’t or can’t change their own oil, or even choose the oil they want in their cars.) Maybe the message here is “the beatings will continue until sales improve.” This is the equivalent of paid media waterboarding. And just as I’m positive former Vice President (and GOP blowhard) Dick Cheney would change his tune about whether real waterboarding is torture if he ever had it done to him, perhaps the Castrol Edge advertising executives who thought this campaign was a good idea need a dipstick whipping.
QUIZNO’S “Toasty Torpedo” (view commercial). This one pains me because my daughter and I both love to eat at Quiznos and we’re good friends with the staff at our regular spot. But I never once thought of the 500 degree oven that toasted our sandwiches as an anthropomorphic rectum. First, to provide some balance, I think the new Torpedo sandwich is a solid new product and for $4 is a good deal. Eating it is another matter…unless you eat it like a SqueezePop using the sleeve it’s served in, it’s easy to find half the contents in your lap before you finish. But in this campaign, Quiznos employee Scott has this exchange with the talking/flashing sandwich oven (which speaks in a voice that is a combination of HAL 2000 and a bad porno voiceover):
OVEN: Scott, I want you to do something.
SCOTT: I’m not doing that again. I burned.
OVEN: We both enjoyed that.
[Oven introduces Toasty Torpedo sandwich.]
OVEN: Yes Scott. You make one. Put it in me, Scott.
Are you kidding me?! A deep male voice beckons Scott to put something in him…that makes the Quiznos oven a 500 degree rectum. And I’m supposed to be salivating at the chance to eat what comes out the other side?! What’s even more telling is that these commercials now air only after 10pm. An edited version runs before 10pm.
Hey Quiznos…the $5 Footlong jingle from Subway is lodged deep in my brain. I don’t like where you’ve lodged your Toasty Torpedo.
UPDATE: AdAge.com wrote on June 25: “Dear Fast Feeders, Please Keep Your Meat Away From the Ladies. Sexualized Sandwich Bits Are Getting Tired, Disgusting.” http://adage.com/adages/post?article_id=137541
Your “think with your dipstick” ad is absolutely one of the most offensive ads I have seen in a long time. Aside from the fact that it is stupid what is it supposed to teach or what should the viewer take home from watching it? Possibly that it is OK to beat up someone with a dip stick. What in the world were you advertising? Castrol has great products and I have purchased many and sold many in my Honda dealership. However, this commercial makes me wonder if you deserve my business.
Donald Dauterive
The Quizno’s torpedo ad is ……Well, let’s find a good word…
Just plain vulgar!
“PUT IT IN ME SCOTT”
It would be more appropriate as a condom ad.
Pardon me if I never go into another Quizno’s!
Donald Dauterive
Donald, thanks for your comments. Mark
Hilarious. Loving the insight and agree with every word said about the Quizno’s ad. Was beginning to wonder if there was anyone out there who shared the same sentiments. A no-doubt expensive, funny, yet entirely ineffective commercial that turned many off. But hey, they got me you and me writing about it didn’t they?
I believe you are reading too far into the “think with your dipstick” commercial. Being from time in this country when corporal punishment was the rule, not the exception, I was on the receiving end of very similar punishment with a ruler. It was usually accompanied by the screeching voice of a Nun yelling “God gave you a brain, use it.” The ruler always came at a time when i was doing something less than intelligent, and always was unexpected. That, and the fact slapstick always has been, and always will have an audience ensures it will get laughs. The dipstick does not represent R rated areas of the male anatomy. It is just a call to use your brain when it comes to engine protection. The dipstick is the first place to check the oil is it not? “Think with your dipstick” basically check your dipstick with your current oil, try castrol edge, check dipstick again, compare result and..”think with your dipstick.” As for why there are no women getting corrected by by the Scottsman whipping them for bad oil mistakes, I firmly do not believe Castrol left them out due to sexual connotation in the commercial. I think Castrol realizes women can, and do change their own oil. I believe Castrol does not denegerate women by thinking they “don’t choose their own oil.” Castrol probably has demographics that proves a majority of women will chose mid range oil, based on price, and what is on sale that week. The demographics would also most likely prove that women choose to not to purchase the premium brands of oil, due to it being almost double the price of average, or even sometimes triple thee price of oil that is on sale. I just would also be wiling to bet the market for a $7+ quart of premium synthetic oil is predominately males 25-60 years of age. I would be very interested in the percentage of women who do perform their own car maintenance, that use premium $7+ oil in their cars. 6 quarts premium synthetic oil, air filter, spark plugs, wires, new belts, new fuses, new windshield wipers, rain-x, and your into one expensive spring maintenance. Somehow i doubt that the percentage of women that involved in maintaining their cars is large that Castrol would even think of marketing it to women. Tom and Jerry is funny. The Three stooges were funny. The Scotsman is funny.
To Donald Dauterive,
Please continue to stock Castrol Edge, it might be pricey but it is one Rock solid product. My wife is horrible about oil changes, she even lies to me and tells me she has it done after work every month. Well after i had it detailed for her,i take her 1983 BMW 320i (with 420k miles on it mind you) to my buddy at the local lube joint last Sunday.
he called over to the jiffy near my wifes work and she hadn’t been in 14 months, 16k miles over !!!
So i pay the going mechanic buddy rate (12 pack of miller) and he start tearing the engine apart to check sludge, gaskets, seals, etc. He says it was as pristine as the last time we rebuilt it. Gaskets perfect, seals perfect, no sludge whatsoever. Filter was the worst part :). My buddy swears it was because of Castrol Edge. When we rebuilt it almost exactly 14 months ago, he put in the Castrol edge because he had just got it free as a promotion for his shop.Now he swears by it. If it can stand up to my wifes abuse it has to be worth its weight in gold.
Here’s hoping for 500k on an 83 BMW all while thinking with my dipstick 🙂
Andy,
I sincerely thank you for your thoughtful and well-argued counterpoint. The detail in it suggests you may be connected with Castrol or the ad agency that pulled it together. If so, thank you for taking the time to represent them. I agree Tom and Jerry is funny. It’s also a cartoon. The Three Stooges…funny to many, but an acquired taste. And clearly pratfall. The Scotsman…not funny. It’s gratuitous violence and, in my opinion, represents laziness in creative thinking and marketing leadership. I expect better from multi-million dollar campaigns and industry leaders. Let’s be clear…I’m not criticizing the product. As far as I know, Castrol Edge may be the best automotive engine oil on the planet and I’m sure there are thousands of faithful car enthusiasts who would say so. Your reply to Donald D. in your post above makes a far better and more intelligent marketing creative brief for Castrol Edge. I’d welcome that campaign.
Can you provide more information on this?
Jorge, what information would you like? Mark O.
Wow! all I can say to the O.P. is……………………….Lighten up Frances!!!!! I bet you are a buzz kill at Parties. It’s just humor and lord knows we need more of that. I found both Commercials refreshing. You may chose to fall in line and goose step down Political Correctness Blvd. but I will keep my sense of humor. The point of advertising is to be remembered and I am sure both Companies would like to thank you for your help in that endeavor.
As a side note the full version of the Quiznos add is only on late at night. They have a P.G. version they show during Family hours.
“Lighten up frances” … Well, hey i’m a Scotsman 10% born and bred – if this isnt at all offensive or stereotypical, then maybe Castrol can make a follow up with a Mexican in a Sombrero “theeenk weeth your deepstick gringo” – see if their offices survive!
This ad totally p####s me off as a Scot! Not funny – bigoted yeah, stereotyping at its worst, heck yeah
I sent an email to Castrol expressing my dislike in their ad. I told them that the message it sends out to young children is that it’s okay to take a piece of metal and go up and slap people with it.
Their reply was that their only intention was to promote their oil.
Of course, they continue to run the terrible ad. Whoever cam up with this ad obviously has no moral values. First they show that it is okay to strike other people for no reason other than to cause pain, then they have the gall to insinuate that the Scottish people are violent and insensitive to the feelings of others.
Personally, I would like to see this ad pulled from the air. It promotes violence and slanders the Scottish people. They should rethink and retool the entire campaign.
Like you, Mark, I am not criticizing the product Castrol Oil, only the thoughtless way they chose to promote it.
Darrell, where did you send the email to? I’m a Scot who works in the US, and I find the ‘Dipstick’ commercial offensive and slanderous in the extreme. I’d like to complain in an email to the same people you did, rather than questioning their poor judgment in trying to profit and market their products at my people’s expense via the general inquiry form on their website.
Thanks.
I think that scotman is hilarious