Wow Ad Wednesday!

So, I don’t know what year this would have been?

Maybe, 19-Oh-Racist?

The message seems clear. You want to get rid of rats, mice, bedbugs, flies or roaches? Buy a box of chinamen for 15 cents! They will eat you out of your problem. Ugh.

  

We are making fun of the diets of coolie-hat wearing asians, right? Good work agency du jour! 

But for in-depth analysis, let’s consult the expert…

Some say he invented the infomercial, but he has repeatedly denied it, although never under oath.  Others say he abhors tomato juice, but loves a Bloody Mary.  No matter, he is the Doctor, and he is preferred by your provider.

This ad uses the symbol for cents - try finding that on a modern keyboard!  But anyway, if you read it the way it seems to be written you get, “ROUGH ON RATS IT CLEARS OUT RATS MICE BED BUGS FLIES ROACHES 15 (cents) PER BOX.  That is not first-rate copy.  It’s not even up to, pentultimate copy. It is crap.

I might be able to buy that it kills rats, mice, bed bugs (whatever those are) and flies, but nothing kills roaches (Doc Ad’s lived everywhere, including the South).  At least, nothing kills roaches for long.  Oh, and what is the product name?  Is it ROUGH ON RATS?

So, that’s all the comments on the goofy ad copy, now let’s just think about the visual concept here.

First, you have a dead rat flat on his back.  Got it. This stuff kills vermin. 

 But then, there’s added what appears to be a walking Chinese man with two dead rats, one of which is heading in to his mouth.  And he looks a bit overweight, so I from what I can discern, the implication is that he has been eating a bunch of rats, and maybe dipping them in Ranch, or possibly Blue Cheese. 

Is the story that this product kills vermin as well as a Chinese person because they like to dine on rats? 

Wow. 

And I thought the world was screwed up these days, but apparently we were all just a bunch of racist, stereo-typing, biggoted asses back then.

Doc Ad took an oath to do everything in his power to save any ailing ad, but this ad is too far gone.  I suggest pulling the plug, and call it a day.  See you the next time I make my rounds.  Doc Ad has left the building. Off to sup on anything other than vermin. And top it off with a nice dry martini.