Thick and Thirsty targets male kitchen incompetents
Kimberly-Clark will this week launch a new ad campaign positioning Thick and Thirsty paper towels as the product that stupid men will use to clean up their culinary disasters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhwU2xhAEcc
Jane McGlinchey, marketing manager for Kimberly-Clark, said: “Research has shown typically women manage the emotional relationships in the household and try to get value out of every task while men are more action and problem solution orientated. The ads tap into this insight through humour displaying men grabbing for the nearest ‘thing’ to solve the problem, quickly.”
The “right towel for the job” campaign has been adapted locally by agency Shift from a campaign for Kimberly-Clark’s Nikol Kitchen brand in Israel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1ql77I2i_s
The ads will run in NSW on shows including Nine’s The Block, Seven’s Better Homes and Gardens and Ten’s Modern Family and The Renovators. MindShare is the media agency.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Once again, men are made to look like incompetent, bumbling fools by advertisers.
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Is it sexist ad month or something?
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Awesome! Reminds me of when I used Castrol GTX to dress a salad, we need all the help we can get on that kitchen stuff.
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When you consider the rich vein of material in this genre, I think this has the makings of a long-running campaign:
Attractive women only get ahead in the office by showing a bit of tit.
Men never remember birthdays or anniversaries.
Women are terrible drivers.
Men don’t eat vegetables or salad.
Women love shoes more than they love breathing.
Men are completely hopeless in the kitchen (check, already used that one).
Women are bitchy, men are matey.
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This was BORING 15 years ago! Please come up with a new and original thought advertising industry! One? Please? If possible…
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I am so sick of “stupid men” in ads – it’s such a lazy device.
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Agree with Jim and Gurmesh. It’s getting a little tired taking the p*ss out of men all the time. Would like to see the reaction if Women were made to be the fall ‘guys’
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“The ads tap into this insight through humour displaying men grabbing for the nearest ‘thing’ to solve the problem, quickly.” Really Jane? Really? Also the guy didn’t grab the nearest thing, he looked around and selected the pot plant. Who the hell did you research, 1950?
There must be something wrong with me as I don’t find them remotely humorous. Insulting yes, but humorous, no. Seriously who the hell would do that?
If there was a campaign about women’s incompetence with power tools it wouldn’t reach idea sketch stage. But I guess you’re only belittling men so it doesn’t matter, we’re not supposed to be so sensitiveabout being portrayed as incompetent idiots.
Is Kimberly-Clark trying to outdo Reckitt Benckiser? Move over Harpic “We’re really sorry” campaign you now have to share the spotlight of shittiest campaign of the year.
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As a male grocery buyer I am never ever going to buy a KCA product again. Have a good life losers!
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Awful, sexist and lazy.
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I agree that this ad is purely sexist. Not to mention unfunny, underwhelming and the v/o is completely patronising too.
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I can live with the sexism. It’s just the sheer laziness and lack of insight that astounds me.
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Not very insightful.
Not very funny.
Shoe-horning an uninspired SP message in too… please.
I hope KC have dropped a load of cash into the channel as this is going to be a long, painful push to get traction.
Feel sorry for Shift as this looks a client-driven schmozzle.
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wow its better than using dirt…..
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These ads are about as offensive as calling soppy movies “chic flicks”. Advertising should have the right to match the humor of the shows our ads run in. Isn’t Homer hopeless in the kitchen and dumber than Marge? How about the fathers in Modern Family or Malcolm in the Middle? I don’t hear you guys complaining about them. It’s hard enough trying to convince the public to get off our backs and stop appointing us to guardians of outdated morality without doing to ourselves.
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How many men shop? How many men have decided to be ‘stay at home dads”? Or even men who work from home? It is a very outdated ad with no creativity at all! Maybe it was a rushed job! Who really is your target audience? I mean grabbing for a pot plant seriously who would really think of that? Maybe the creatives had “pot” plant on their mind!!!
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If Jane was at home her husband wouldn’t be having these type of accidents…
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@ 1950. You do make an interesting point. Men are SO stupid in the kitchen and simply can’t clean a toilet it MUST be women’s work all along!!!! Is that what these ads are really trying to infer?
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I don’t think the ad should be taken literally or seriously!! It uses exaggerated humour which is quite obvious. While it may not be humorous for some, it does a pretty good job in highlighting that Thick & Thirsty is for “tough men” and is “tough on dirt”. Too often paper towel ads are fake and focus on pristine kitchens. Well done T&T for being daring and creating a good word of mouth campaign, as seen here!
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Oiiii … what’s this kitchen thing you all keep talking about?
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Seriously, even if we were in 1950, what is wrong with the woman who married a man that uses a pot plant as a cleaning item. This insults women as much as men!
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I honestly don’t think it’s meant to be interpreted as sexist or downgrading towards men, it’s just a bit of humour! obviously the men are not stupid, you can even tell from the slow music that its supposed to be taken lightly n the guys are acting dumb. all its saying is that T&T is a product which will get the job done people!
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Wow, it’s almost as good as this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9k2CUZJDp0
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hey @exaggerated humour you’ve tried a little bit too hard here……your argument reads like the rationale used to sell the concept into the client. And how the hell you think a “good word of mouth campaign” has been created is beyond me
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amazing how big brands do such crap stuff despite all the money they waste on research ! and then try and mask mediocrity behind an insight they couldn’t even use properly. yes, men are ‘fixers’ and they know how. That’s why women ask them to fix the problem ! i guess the real insight here is that the men at KC are probably as dumb as these…!
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I have to ask how an advertisement can proliferate so much anger over a simple use of a stereotypical male figure fumbling about in the kitchen(which does happen, does it not?) which is supposed to draw attention to the question “can the paper towel really handle tough jobs”. It is over-exagerated on purpose! Get over the sexist notion and take it for a paper towel commercial, not a declaration that “all” men are complete idiots in the Kitchen. If they were to have created a commercial that fit ethically, legally, sexually, and in the right time period to fit everybodies liking, then it would have been the equivalent of a court room hearing….suits and all. too many tight @ssed people reading way too deep into this one. I like halfpreg’s witty response. From a marketing point of view, does it leave the name “Think and thirsty” on your mind? If not, they failed. So be it. If there were only this level anger over the world debt crisis, it might get resolved sooner than later.
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@26… I think you’re utterly missing the point. The point’s not that it’s a dull, sexiest, trite, boring attempt at a parody (like you suggest). The point is it’s a dull, sexiest, trite, boring attempt at a parody that’s been done a BILLION times before over the last three decades – just infinitely better!!!!! To suggest in anyway that this brain-deadening piece of shite somehow covers new ground is beyond laughable as to be moronic.
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LOOOOOLLL! MEn R sooooo rtarded! Women R way smarterer! LOOOOLL! Just like the lady who talks at the end of teh ad! GURL POWA!
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