Truth in advertising

Peter Day has written a nice piece about dirty advertising. Hang on, let me say that again. It's a column on advertisements for washing up powder. It meanders about a bit, and then gets to the interesting part, about how the ad became far more successful in East Germany once it promised less.

Persil's the current advertising stressed its pre-eminence : the whitest wash in the world.

"East German housewives don't want that," said Mr Mackat [of an Ossie market research agency]. "They just want decently clean clothes."

The pan-German Persil ads showed a German hausfrau at work, beautifully turned out and glowing with health. In the background was her spacious home, shining with the latest gadgets.

"East German women can't identify with that sort of thing," said Frisch and Mackat.

They took the hausfrau and the bungalow out of the ads, and toned down the world beating claims. The ad they unveiled for the Ossies said something modest such as "Best for coloureds". And it worked.


By the way, Ossie and Wessie refer to Germans from (the former) East and West Germany.