Have you seen the ad for the Philips Arcitec razor? It’s the one that says we conquered the sky, showing the Wright Brothers; we conquered Mount Everest, showing a climber on his way to the top; we conquered the moon, showing the landing on the moon; and we conquered the neck, showing the Philips Arcitec.
My wife who was watching with me was disgusted. “That’s ridiculous, comparing a new razor to the landing on the moon.”
But that, I’m sure, is the point. I’ve worked with a lot of advertising creative people and this feels like an intentionally ironic ad. “Of course it’s not as big as landing on the moon. It’s meant to be ironic.”
This new view of irony is when you use irony to excuse something that would otherwise be unacceptable or in this case ridiculous. The first time I encountered this was with the new Men’s magazines – FHM, Maxim, Loaded. These were read by young guys. If criticised for looking at pictures of half naked women they would say “You don’t understand. I’m being ironic. I know they are exploitative and in looking at them I am recognising that. I’m not a dirty old man.”
Applying the same think to the Philips ad the thinking goes. “Of course it’s a ridiculous comparison. That’s the point. We’re being ironic. But it’s still a cool razor and a real advance within razors.” The truth is they would really like us to believe it’s as good as landing on the moon.
The trouble with this sort of irony is that most observers dismiss it as a self delusion. They look and say “Guys who buy Maxim like looking at naked women”. And “Philips thinks its new razor is on a par with landing on the moon”. And react accordingly. Just like my wife.
