Surprise! P&G are behind the dickless wonder boy Zack16.com

It's no official, the teaser campaign (or "stealth viral" as Adage dubbed it) Zack16.com, where a boy wakes up with "girl parts" one day and learns to love Tampax by the end of the week is created for Procter & Gamble's Tampax.

The campaign was created by Leo Burnett, Chicago and there was no mention of Tampax until poor Zack suddenly had a visit from aunt Flo and found a Tampax vending machine in the girl's restroom.

As AdAge says, that wasn't the only thing "stealthy" about this viral campaign:

The campaign's backer hasn't been the only thing stealthy about it. As of this week, the most viewed of nine online videos produced had been seen fewer than 6,000 times on YouTube, though it's had a few thousand additional views on such sites as Funny or Die and StupidVideos.com. The fictional Mr. Johnson also has a Twitter account, @ZackJohnson16, with 949 followers.

"My life has turned into an after-school special gone horribly awry. The girl parts that visited last week are still there. One second I hate them, the next I don't mind them."

So something weird happened to me last night and I'm just trying to deal. Went to the bathroom this morning to find that I suddenly possessed the aiming ability of a defective garden sprinkler. Soon thereafter I discovered that a super important body part of mine had gone missing. Maybe it went for a midnight stroll and fell into a pond? Decided to seek medical attention. Had an awkward discussion with the school nurse. Didn't tell her what really happened. I will remain elusive. Chelsea Carr walked by my locker today and we made meaningful eye contact. At least I think it was meaningful. I dunno, I'm confused. Maybe this is just a bad dream. I'm sure everything will be back to normal tomorrow.

Episode three has the description:

"Tried to hold it at school but my bladder finally said "Uncle." Walked up to the urinals then remembered I had a vagina. Went into a stall, pee everywhere. Yuck. Did my best and hovered like a girl, which on the plus side gave my quads a workout. Ladies, on behalf of guys everywhere, I apologize for every ounce of urine we have left on a toilet seat. That's a lot of urine and a lot of apologizing. Moving forward fellas, can we please work on our aim? Or better yet, lift up the seat before you tinkle."

Adland® is supported by your donations alone. You can help us out by buying us a Ko-Fi coffee.
Anonymous Adgrunt's picture
comment_node_story
Files must be less than 5 MB.
Allowed file types: jpg jpeg gif png wav avi mpeg mpg mov rm flv wmv 3gp mp4 m4v.
caffeinegoddess's picture

This campaign is stupid. I don't get why they think it would appeal to their target. I mean, props for being different and the type of work, but the idea here is just way off.

Dabitch's picture

So is the product though. Real women use O.B. designed by a woman. I'd say a lot more about the products "features" (or in the case of Tampax, problems) but all he guys are already covering their ears saying la la la I can't hear you!

Neo's picture

Not the first man in a P&G campaign that has had a visit from auntie Flo. Remember "men with cramps"?

Dabitch's picture

I hadn't even seen men with cramps. That was rather funny.