Solo: Man-bib

18 May, 2009

by Carly

solobib

Just the words ‘man’ and ‘bib’ combined are funny enough to make this advertising campaign successful. It is so stupid, so unnecessary, and so manly.

Really, it doesn’t seem too difficult to appeal to men en masse, as long as you can provide them with the opportunity to either;

1) imagine (even if briefly) that they are sexy,

2) act stupidly with a large group of other men, or

3) be photographed being rubbed up by two blondes

This ad has perfectly combined all three.

And the copy is just so funny. I mean, it is pure genius appealing to masculinity. The man-wax. We all know about the man-wax. Most of us laugh about the man-wax. But, I pose this question to all women out there; how would we feel if the hairy man-bib were the reality of everyday? What if men never waxed, and the matted curls portrayed in this ad were poking out of shirt collars every which way we looked? How would we feel?

The man-wax has become normalised. I am not saying I like it, I am just stating the facts. Hair is out. Sorry guys, it seems the times have spoken.

However, there are still some men out there who refuse (as this ad suggests all should) to give in to the man-wax. This guy is one example. Good on him.

How could this ad have ever been anything other than a success? I suppose replacing the Solo with beer would probably have done the job, but I imagine that would go past being funny after the second or third round.

Yeah… a bunch of men hyped up on Solo and parading around in man-bibs is definitely enough excitement for one campaign.

Advertising Agency: Lifelounge, Melbourne, Australia
Creative Director / Copywriter: Daniel Pollock
Associate Creative Director / Art Director: David Ponce de Leon
Designer: Michael Pham
Producer: Georgia Grigg