This editorial is reproduced with permission from
Marketing Magazine, Oct. 21, 1996.
The proliferation over the past decade of malnourished-looking women flogging everything from jeans and T-shirts to designer perfumes in advertising would seem to have a desensitizing effect on consumers. How ironic it is, then, that a new print campaign by Kellogg Canada Ltd. for its Special K cereal that shows an almost skeletal, bikini-clad model, is so disturbing. The startling image, one of three executions in the campaign, is the last thing one would expect from the breakfast-cereal manufacturer that at one time chastised consumers for pinching an inch.
While many have paid lip service to the principal of portraying women more realistically in advertising, Kellogg scores a direct hit at society's destructive ultrathin-is-beautiful myth. Although Kellogg is itself guilty of spinning the body-beautiful fantasy in prior Special K ads - the TV spot featuring a middle-ages women, with a knock-out figure, flirting with her husband comes to mind - the latest Special K message at least promotes a healthy body weight through exercise and sensible diet.
What makes the new Special K campaign so effective is that it respects the intelligence of its mostly female audience, and uses humor to effect: "Ironically, she's the one worried about her weight" reads the copy alongside a photo of a woman and a smug looking man so bloated his breast size rivals hers. Another execution shows a middle-aged man looking ridiculous in leopard-print pants and a tummy hugging lace blouse. "If only fashion designers had to live up to the same standards they've set for us," reads the copy.
This type of "we care about you" ad is responsible and gets people talking: not only about the role that advertising, the media and the fashion industry play in the development of the self-images of young women; but it also about the dearth of ads that so deftly engages the intelligence and sensibilities of the customer. A cereal ad about body weight and self-image speaks to women of any age and has more to do with the food product Kellogg is selling than, for instance, John Lennon's butt has to do with wrist watches.
Yet Kellogg is clearly reticent to talk about details of the campaign. The company says it doesn't want to reveal the strategy because it's based on proprietary consumer research. Kellogg appears to be taking a wait-and-see approach: if the campaign's a hit they may extend it. If it evokes more outrage than kudos, Kellogg will likely take it off the shelf.
Kellogg's silence is perhaps understandable. After all, most marketers are uncomfortable being seen as leading the way on social issues. Realistically, the ads probably won't convince women to resign contentedly from the diet game. And time will tell whether Kellogg sells more boxes of Special K because of it. Closer to the truth, however, is that the highly competitive adult breakfast-cereal market is still rather conservative and Kellogg is testing uncharted waters. They deserve praise for it.
