Veet - Dude / Overnight - (2014) :30 (USA)

Oh Veet. Congratulations on your newfound fame. Jezebel is horrified, which is always a great way to get more attention without media spend. Adweek joins in, listing 5 things wrong with this campaign. Though, they forget the most important one.
To be able to wax, you must first grow out your hair. The womanly all day tagline, neglects to mention there's at least a week, maybe two of shavecation before you can wax. Two weeks! Two weeks of pants, keeping that hot guy out of them, and feeling kinda gross in general if you are the lady-type who likes to be clean-shaven. They're obviously targeting shavers with these ads, but failing to mention to hairy wait before you can wax. I guess it's better than the strategy they used to have, which emphasized that Veet waxing doesn't hurt by having Edwina Hunter force-wax Miranda Kerr in a girl-fight on a bed... which was all kinds of awkward. Ugh.

But I digress. The stubbly lady feels like a man comedy bit has riled up the internet, with this ad, "Salon", and "Taxi". The thought police are out in force talking about body-shaming, homophobia and transphobia as if they have bingo-boxes to check. And if you're not a homosexual, or trans*, or a recovered anorexic you simply can not speak on the issue at all, say the horde of upset keyboard activist commentors, none of whom will ever buy Veet again. They've all failed to notice that this is a bad ad from the get-go because the insight is wrong.
If you can't stand a day of stubble, how can you stand waiting for the right time to wax?

As a shaver, and your target market, Veet, I'm glad to see you're no longer force-waxing skinny models in an advertising ménage à trois and instead trying the humor approach. It's always nice to step away from the slightly sexualized eating disorder inducing blandness of yore. I'm still not convinced bothering with wax is any better than a daily shave, because I've tried, and I know the not-so-smooth results, and I hate the hairy wait. But points for trying a new tactic.

Advertising Agency: Havas Worldwide, USA
Veet: Don't risk dudeness, Overnight