Poo-Pourri Genius Ad Campaign

There are many reasons that an advertisement can be memorable. Some advertisements make a mark for themselves by being romantically-themed, or comedic, or a little bit gross. However, Poo-Pourri, the "'Before-You-Go' Toilet Spray" managed to include all three of those elements into their genius ad campaign. As the tagline suggests, Poo-Pourri is a liquid that can be spritzed onto the surface of the toilet water inside the bowl before one uses the restroom, and the film the liquid creates keeps in the odor. I personally do not know anybody who owns a bottle of Pou-Pourri, however, I have seen it in several office buildings, and know that it actually works very well. This is bizarre, as the advertisements are so ridiculous that the product appears to be fake (and if it did exist, it would not work as well as the advertisements lead consumers to believe). In this analysis, I will be looking at two advertisements for Poo-Pourri from the perspective of somebody who has, in fact, used the product and knows of its effectiveness. I will be identifying metadata, including the context, date/timeliness, and

The humor is quick-witted and fast-moving, so that the audience never has a second to realize that every single joke spoken is essentially a poop joke. The fancy British woman does an excellent job, being very tongue-and-cheek with her dialogue and selling the product effectively. As I mentioned, there is a juxtaposition of a proper British woman looking very well put together, talking about her feces. This paradox is extremely funny, and so funny that she has to confirm that the commercial is real, and the product exists. This juxtaposition is also present in the Christmas ad, as Santa Claus is supposed to be a pure and wholesome icon, yet he also is using the toilet and needs Poo-Pourri. The commercial does a good job explaining how the product works, and why a consumer should let it solve their