There’s this brilliant new Kenyan ad that’s been on air for a little over a week now that’s making waves.
Sorry. Wrong ad.
I meant this one.
Now I know what you’re thinking. “Evian did the baby thing like 3 years ago, and it went viral and was widely recognized: why would a Kenyan agency copy them so blatantly?”
Stop thinking that. Nobody copied anyone, OK? This is an innovative idea from the finest Kenyan agency out there. It just so happens that their work kinda resembles somebody else’s. You see, KDPA – not short for “Kenya’s Desperately Plagiarizing Agency” – want to get Kenyans to drink milk. Evian wanted people to drink water. Of course there’ll be some similarities here and there (and maybe even everywhere). For all you know the guys at the Agency never even saw that Evian ad that has like 100 million views on YouTube. They probably don’t have internet. Maybe they’re even visually impaired and unable to read and have no awareness of aesthetic direction or linguistic nuances. Maybe we shouldn’t point fingers till we get all the facts.
5 Reasons KDPA’s “Stay young, Do Milk” is better than Evian’s “Live young, Drink Evian”
After having this discussion a few times with peers, I figured it’s time to settle it once and for all with a list, like grown men on the internet do, and stop acting like f***ing babies.
1. Speaking of “f***ing babies”, this ad has sex appeal. You see Evian didn’t push the envelope. They did the ‘socially correct’ thing and left babies as innocent, playful and adorable with “Drink water” as a tagline. Some would say they were guided by the insight that everybody loves babies as fun, cute, bundles of joy. I say Evian are cowards. There are large demographics of people(in and out of prison) who would love to see babies in adult clothing doing sexy dances and buying each other drinks and be told to “do milk”. That’s not perverted at all. It’s edgy. It has sex appeal. Milk is sexy. End of story.
2. Speaking of sexy milk, this ad is cool. It’s so 2012. Some people are like “the rollerblading babies were doing something fun and timeless!” Well, the babies at the bar are upping the ante. They’re representing the company’s perception of what is “in”. Because while you may look at contemporary fashion, and then look at the ad and say “those babies are dressed like 1980s Hip-Hop babies” I’d like to remind you that according to many 60 year old Creative Directors out there, that. sh*t. is. still. cool. And if the Creative lead thinks it’s cool, your opinion can jump into a photocopier and then f**k itself. The ad is cool. Milk is cool. End of story.
3. Speaking of cool milk, this ad is fresh. Now, I know you’re thinking ‘But iCon, isn’t the entire premise of your piece that this ad looks like another ad and so is not possibly fresh?’ While you may have a point, you also miss the point. Kenyans don’t know about Evian. They don’t use the internet. They’ve never even been on the YouTubes. So as far as they’re concerned, badly rendered 3D babies going spread eagle in a skirt is a whole new level of fresh. If they think it’s fresh, then the ad is fresh. Milk is fresh. End of story.
4. Speaking of shady Kenyans, this ad is empowering. It’s aspirational. This is exactly what we want for our babies to be. You may be thinking ‘Well, the Evian one was aspirational too. Adults aspire to be young and have fun, and they aspire that their children should grow to be the same type of fun, healthy creatures.’ Well, how much more aspirational is this. Babies at a bar, dancing, drinking, and dressing like old school Hip-Hop parody ads and somewhat loose women. You couldn’t pack more inspiration into an ad if you tried. Nor could you make milk more inspirational.
5. Speaking of inspirational, this ad is necessary. The whole idea, as I’m meant to understand, is that it’s a campaign by the Kenya Dairy Products Association to get people to drink more milk. An unofficial Diasporadical survey revealed that when people were asked what came to mind when they heard “Do Milk”, drinking milk came a staggering third (behind ‘boobs’ and ‘bestiality’). This is a crisis. People really need to start drinking milk and not associating the phrase “do milk” with any form of fetishist coitus. Best way to do that: babies. Why? Because research, that’s why. Research that was so indepth and focused it did not uncover a very similar ad. That’s how focused these guys are to get you to drink milk. How noble.
So stop criticizing their “potential plagiarism” or “badly executed concept” or even their “shoddy production value”.
Look at the real value.
The noble cause of doing milk. So do your part go out to a party, dance your ass off and do milk.
[/sarcasm]
But seriously, what are your thoughts on this ad?
[Click here for Badvertising Vol. 1: Spoof Ads]
