USA TODAY: Alka-Seltzer marketers have been among advertising’s most prolific producers of jingles and catch phrases done in such infectious ways that they became pop culture staples of their times.
For its latest commercial, 75-year-old Alka-Seltzer reached back decades to resurrect perhaps the most famous slogan for the fizzy stomach remedy: “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.”
Alka-Seltzer re-created the original ad from 1972. Playing the bickering married couple this time are Doris Roberts and Peter Boyle from Everybody Loves Raymond.
“Alka-Seltzer has some of the most famous advertising of all time and the brand has withstood the test of time,” says Jay Kolpon, vice president, marketing and new business, for the Bayer health care’s consumer care division. “This was a way to tap into the 75th anniversary. Tapping into the familiar, tried and true seemed a very natural place to go.”
The ad will be used for Alka-Seltzer’s first appearance on Super Bowl Sunday, in pre-game programming. Bayer health care, part of Germany’s Bayer Group, also has 30 seconds during the game, but that high-priced slot will go to sibling brand Aleve.
“Tapping into the familiar, tried and true seemed a very natural place to go.”
Anyone who’s seen the pitiful advertising perpetrated by Mr Kolpon on behalf of other Bayer brands like Aleve, Midol and One-A-Day will know him to be a man of his word.
They’ve been operating for years with trite scenarios, woefully lame scripts (“Aaah, my back….”/”You should try Aleve”) and product held up to the camera at angles that must make the actors need painkillers in real life.
Tried, yes. Trusted, sure. True — well, yes, in the sense that they persuade unwitting viewers to shell out twice as much as they need for products available in generic form.
Underinspired retro retreads give me indigestion.