I See London

All right, I'll just say it straight out: This entry is about ladies' undergarments. Let's all have a giggle about that and then get serious so we can move on.

A couple weeks ago I saw this commercial and noticed something that I thought was interesting. Check it out:



Did you notice the same thing I did?

Of course you did.

Maybe?

That's right, I noticed that one of the stars in this spot, albeit very subtly, seemed to use the word "boob". Now, it's not that I'm surprised to hear the word "boob" on television, I'm pretty sure I hear it several times per day, and certainly in the context in which it is used here. But I don't believe I've heard it in a commercial, let alone in a commercial for a brassiere, where one might more likely expect to hear it than in a commercial for, let's say, Kraft macaroni and cheese. Commercials for ladies' underwear are on all the time, and they don't seem afraid to use fairly suggestive imagery and language. But the word "boob" seemed taboo, apparently until now.

So I made this observation and I didn't think it was interesting enough to go on about, and didn't think that I would explore it in much detail. Then, not too long after, I saw a commercial that was part of a new ad campaign for the Hanes "No Ride Up Panty" that was promoted as "Wedgie-Free". (This commercial is so exclusive that YouTube won't let me embed it, but it can be viewed in an online press release here.) Again, a word not often heard in commercials for underpants, and this time it is right there in the campaign's tagline.

So is this minor explosion of terminology like "boob" and "wedgie" indicative of some larger trend in the world of advertising womens' underwear? Readers right remember a previous post about All Bran that discussed "telling it like it is" when it comes to subjects that are somewhat awkward to discuss in an open public forum, and whether or not that approach is really effective, or even notable. But watching any Victoria's Secret commercial would show you that there are less-awkward approaches to marketing brassieres and the like. Are these campaigns from Playtex and Hanes trying to grab hold of female consumers who are disillusioned with the sexy underwear fantasies, tapping into their desire to see down-to-earth underwear, addressing down-to-earth issues with down-to-earth language? Or are they actually trying to be a little edgier themselves to compete with the Vickie's crew, only in a different way? Or are they just trying to be cute and funny?

This one has me a little stumped, for now. We'll see where this trend, if it can be called a trend, goes from here. Some guidance from my female readers might be helpful; but not required.