Strange ads from Glade

Have you seen these Glade commercials? They were on all the time in my area in December, I guess because of all the big parties and family get-togethers everyone had at the end of the month. This first one is for their Fabric & Air Odor Eliminator. (Sorry, the resolution is not so great.)

Then there’s this one, for Glade PlugIns.

Both of these ads strike me as very odd. The first and more superficial reason is that I don’t understand how it could be a good marketing decision to teach potential customers that they should be embarrassed about having used your product. You’ll be mocked by your husband, laughed at by your friends… yeah, that sounds great, sign me up. Seriously, does this convince anyone to buy from Glade?

More importantly, though, I think it says something about the assumed role of a woman as housekeeper. In both cases the woman lies about how much effort she put into making her home smell nice; in the first, she says she spent the whole day cleaning, while in the second, she says she discovered this unique fragrance at a special boutique. It’s not enough to make your house tidy before your friends come over, or to wash the dishes and maybe vacuum a room or two before your kids and husband come home. A good woman really knocks herself out to get that extra-special clean. (Or, at least, pretends to. And everyone else expects her to — that’s why they laugh at her when they find out she didn’t.)

I don’t know what message Glade intended to send with these commercials. It doesn’t make much sense to me, and the part that does make sense just seems outrageous.

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January 7, 2009 · Written by
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