Aero ad: the bubble's burst

I don't know about you but I don't like the new Aero chocolate bar ad where some bemuscled hunk with no shirt on talks about how the bubbles are formed. "I didn't know that was how they made the bubbles," enthuses one girl, while another says "oh -were you listening to him?"

In print ads in magazines, they have the same hunk and presumably his charisma is supposed to be so compelling that we remember and associate it with the TV ad.

I find this "reverse sexism" pretty tired and trite for today. When Diet Coke started the "Diet Coke Break" a few years ago, which was built on the same premise, it seemed more zeitgisty and rule breaking. Now, it's just me too. Women are still used to sell cars and auto parts in men's magazines but there would still shrieks of outrage, and complaints to the ASA, if an ad like the Aero ad ran with a partially clad woman and two leering men.

I thought about showing a picture of the guy but then I would be guilty of what the Daily Mail and the News of the World do: run a critical article but then feature gratuitously a picture to feed the frenzy. So instead here is the Cadbury's gorilla.

Chocolate advertising has become as difficult as car advertising. There are no big innovations and really everything has been done. So the ads have to try to capture some of the emotion around the experience. Or, as Aero are trying to do, create some stand-out. I like the way Galaxy positioned their chocolate around relaxation, sinful luxury and reading. All good things we associate with chocolate. Their sponsorship of the Richard & Judy book club plays into this.

I am less impressed with the Cadbury gorilla - although all the guys at the ad agency love it (though I wonder if that's because they are in the industry, rather than a chocolate eating member of the public). I wonder where they will take it. It was also too derivative for me of another campaign where a man is seen playing the drums, and when he turns round, you realise he's quite old. I can't remember the brand, but the message was clear: challenging perceptions.