By K. A. Laity
We're so accustomed to ill-conceived ad campaigns that make us wince, it's a genuine pleasure to find one that not only proves successful, but give plenty of laughs as well.
I'm sure many of you remember the Old Spice commercials featuring the hunky Isaiah Mustafa. The initial commercial caused as much controversy as delight, striking many viewers as a little too over the top, and subsequent adverts employed more subtle attempts to pitch Mustafa's glistening torso as both appealing to women and more gently raising the bar for the men.
Old Spice has its own YouTube channel, but more importantly, it's got its own Twitter feed as well. In recent days their inventive use of the two social media streams has exploded across the net.
Old Spice's tweets vary from encouragement to those who fail to live up to the ideal ("Mr. @caseyayers, do not get discouraged. You're swan dive will come with time.") and friendly banter ("Hello @Rushton2. Your tweet reminded me of the summer I spent off the stormy coast of Tibet."), but by far the most effective tweets have been those that led to videos made for other tweeters.
"Are you a baby with muscle-structure of a man @MrBabyMan?"
"Good question @Gizmodo. What's my preferred method of Old Spice bodywash application?"
And you knew it was inevitable, but as Mashable reported this afternoon, the Old Spice proposal: "I'd be honored to honor your honorable request" Mustafa says, noting that "your love has blossomed from a seed has blossomed into a fully grown love plant."
She said yes: presumably "Angela A. Hutt-hyphen-Chamberlin" already knew what she was getting. It wasn't Old Spice, but at least her guy has a sense of humour.
UPDATE:
Old Spice has posted his farewell today. Oh, Old Spice. We'll miss you.
Videos via Old Spice