At the weekend the usual Ken Mok produced glossy TV shows ran in the background while I half heartedly set about doing the chores. Chrystina and Tiffanie had ceased cat-clawing over the latest dance routine and the search for the next pussycat doll was put on hold for the adverts.
I took a well deserved break from attempting dish mountain and sat down with a cup of tea only to choke on it a few seconds later. What had just happened? Someone who can only be described as resembling the posture of a gorilla in hotpants had cycled around a supermarket on a racer bike. What was most confusing was the gravel-like noise omitted during this awkward act. In fact strike that, I’d say the nodding, happy, agreeable people the creature encounters on the journey was the most confusing thing. Why aren’t they as alarmed as me?
This was, to those who haven’t seen it yet the latest Diet Coke advert featuring the popular vocalist Duffy. Launching the Diet Coke ad campaign was timed with her recent Brit award success- 3 award wins don’t you know? I didn’t until I looked it up online and that’s probably why I don’t get the ad. My awareness of Duffy is constructed purely from her music video clips on TV commercials. And I must say, I’ve never been impressed by her poor lip syncing. Couldn’t she at least look as though the song being belted out was coming from that frozen pout?

Although I’m obviously in the minority here as her contract for this campaign is on the basis according to an agency rep, that she represents a ‘strong independent popular woman’. Mother London the agency to win the £35 million project had openly stated their aim was to inspire confidence in young woman. The strapline “I’m no superwoman” is used to represent women taking a stand against the stress of modern life. It’s a clear move away from the original Diet Coke campaign with the gawping female office workers.
I am the target market for Diet Coke, specifically this campaign and I think it fails. Not because I am unfamiliar with popular female singers, or because I don’t drink Diet Coke and it’s not because I prefer to ogle at muscular window cleaners. The reason this didn’t register is because of the spectacle of her perched on that contraption, neck stiff & unmoving. Even if I could get over this, the ‘meaningful’ lyrics are lost in her Brit award winning delivery of the song. A poor concept, poorly executed. A note to Mother London- 35 million, really?