Thursday, July 24, 2008

Post's Shredded Wheat is sexually satisfying (?)

A fairly common assumption is that sex is used to sell sex-related products, right? Like perfume, clothing, or even jewelry.

But cereal?

My eyes did a double flip at the new campaign for Post’s Shredded Wheat. I have to admit, sex is not the first thing that comes to mind with thinking about healthy, fibrous cereal.

Satisfy those urges
Post is obviously seeking to empower women by saying “you don’t need men to satisfy your urges,” whatever those urges may be. The ads use sex appeal in reverse by saying that women don’t need sex to feel satisfied, they can get satisfied with a bowl of wheat. The ads portray that idea by depicting a woman, dressed in lingerie-inspired red satin ensembles, posed in a demure position with a bowl of Post Shredded Wheat. She looks directly into the camera, making a definite connection with the viewer. The woman and the cereal are the primary focus of the ad.

In the background, almost blending in to the scenery is a passive man either sleeping or paying the woman little attention. The copy reads “What satisfies a hungry woman?” Using sex appeal with a cereal is not the obvious route, but as Post demonstrates here, it undoubtedly makes for an attention grabbing ad.

The tagline does a great job of focusing on the product benefits in a creative and attention grabbing way proving that sex in advertising has now reached new territory; the cereal aisle.

--Posted by Erica Goss

2 comments:

Hollander said...

I have to admit, sex is not the first thing that comes to mind with thinking about healthy, fibrous cereal.

There ain't nothing sexier than a good bowl of fibrous cereal. The crunch, the chewing, the ... er, never mind.

Unknown said...

Much was made of the fact that Ben Whishaw was only 24 in Trevor Nunn's 2004 Young Vic production. It's not essential that the actor should be very young, but it helps: it's a story about growing up.
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