Everywhere we look, we see evidence of a changing Britain. British households are no exception, with major shifts in their make-up and people dynamics – the clues are everywhere.
Cif’s latest ad “Burglary”, created by DLKW Lowe, recently caught our attention through its humorous demonstration of the cleaning product.
At first, the motive of the man is unclear as he meticulously cleans a specific area of the wall. However, soon enough all is revealed as the police turn up at his door to see a burglary that he has staged, using the cleaning agent to pretend a fictitious large wide screen television has been stolen.
What we found interesting is the use of a male character as the “cleaner” in order to target the product at men instead of women (a step change from their previous adverts in which they always depicted a female as the main user of their products). This shift in target audience reflects some of the findings from our Future of Britain research. 39% of men say that they decide and buy the household cleaning products and almost a quarter (24%) say the household decides collectively, giving men a stronger presence in the purchasing decision of these products.
The media is renowned for its female portrayal in relation to cleaning and being the dominant “at-home parent”, most predominately P&G’s “Proud sponsors of mums” campaign. However, according to a recent publication by the ONS (Office of National Statistics) figures are at a record high for British Men as the primary carer in the home, which we can assume makes them the primary cleaners too.
Could this be the beginning of a new breed of male-skewed cleaning adverts? And what other changes will we see in British advertising that reflect our changing nation?
