Be careful using onesies in advertising

This week we thought you might be interested in some stories about the use of pyjamas and onesies in advertising. First up, Vauxhall have decided to use yummy mummies in pyjamas to advertise their new SUV. Headlined “Pyjama Mamas” it is a weirdly sexy Vauxhall Crossland X advert complete with a young, modern soundtrack, ‘Pajamas All Day,’ by HardNox, the Las Vegas-based MC/DJ brothers Dan and Jim Kehoe. Next a warning for anyone thinking of using onesies in advertising; Domino’s pizza chain came in for criticism during the recent hot weather after it employed people to wear superhero onesies and hang around major junctions with advertising billboards. Some local people took to Twitter to voice their anger at what they saw as ‘exploitation’. Comments included “@Dominos_UK #corby why do you have people as human signposts wearing padded costumes in 30c+ heat. Not a good advert.” But since the story made it in to the press maybe in the advertising world critical comments are better than no comments. Another less commercial example of posts going viral unintentionally was reported from Australia recently. A woman shared a post she made on the Peter Alexander Sleepwear page noting that her days-of-the-week underwear set was missing a day. Since the original post at the end of June, it has received nearly 30,000 likes and over 5,000 comments. Obviously some people expect there to be seven different days in such a set. But it could get confusing if you are one of those who turns their pants inside out so that they are good for two days (or more). Anyway, she complained to the retailer, “There are two pairs of underwear marked ‘Thu.’ and a complete absence of a Monday-dedicated pair. I’m sure there are individuals who would not mind adorning their rear with ‘Thu.’ each Monday; for example the illiterate, or the criminally insane. Since I am neither, I can only assume you are trying to enforce either Commando Mondays or Cardio Workout Thursdays.” I hope she was showered with complimentary Monday knickers for getting that amount of free publicity for the underwear manufacturers. Anyone want to use our onesies in advertising, we’ll make you a good offer?