LENCKUS: Final Spoof Ad ((((SCRAWNY))))

SCRAWNY Logo

DANA LENCKUS: The brand that I was trying to spoof was BRAWNY Paper Towels, converting the image of these kitchen rolls into something that will be less durable, and more apt to make a bad day MUCH more frustrating when using SCRAWNY Paper Towels. BRAWNY and its hardy lumberjack-faced brand claims that they will "Never Let You Down" as one of their main taglines for their advertising campaign. I decided to transform that image by using a slim nerd upon the logo, use the terms, “XL Weak” and also use a used up toilet paper roll in the photo shoot to depict the pathetic size of the actual product. I wanted to only spoof the brand and the product, and incorporate it within a real-world scenario. The purpose of spoofing this ad would be to reach a new type of target audience, for those burly men who use paper towels in the garage, and how it relates to the same frustrations of those in the kitchen preparing meals (which is the traditional use).

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COPY: I appreciated the personification that they have incorporated within these towels being able to brawn up to the worries of everyday spills. Some of the main taglines that I have come up with are as follows. but I liked the idea of how you are feeling with these towels before they actually break on you. They are so scrawny that they just don’t pick up any of the mess.
"Can't Handle It"/"Can't Handle Me"
"Feel the weakness"
"Too Weak to Handle"
" SORRY"/ "Ooops"/ "COME ON!" C'MON"!/
"Not tough enough"

 PRODUCTION: Making the photos was simple. I used my DSLR and lighting setup with help from a friend to model for me; we shot in Palatine, finding a terrific location of an industrial scene. I took inspiration from the night portrait sets by Joe McNally, who is a celebrity photographer. He has always inspired me to shoot outdoors and really work with the location and lighting as much as possible to convey a story. Over the past few years of my photography, I have incorporated a joy for shooting with lighting and portraiture that seems surreal. My direction for this particular type of setting was the idea of the towels being used in the most rugged and extreme situation, spoofing the product as well. I was trying to take the conventional "Kitchen Towels" and show how they are REALLY used, which can be for any spills, but also for human skin. So, using the junkyard/greasy environment with a big burly guy would be a complete juxtaposition from the unnecessary 'brawn' of paper towels which are usually just shown in the kitchen from previous advertisements.

MEME for Social Media

Another inspiration that I have used was from the MEME website, particularly my favorite was Bad Luck Brian. With so much hype upon social media, which I find most of my friends pouring hours of their time into sites like Reddit, college humor, and browsing feeds on Facebook and Twitter, the quickest way to get a comical message across in a visual way is to use these Memes, which are text + iconographic imagery of pop culture. So, I took the idea to use a quick and simple meme about the message of SCRAWNY to be laughed at, and hopefully re-posted to reach a broad audience.

MEDIUM: Aside from the traditional print that was to be shown in Home andGarden magazines, (I used Family Circle), the target audience of conventional kitchen-dwellers who are interested in baking, cooking, or even cleaning would see these ads run and find it humorous that these paper towels would basically let them down for their most important tasks. Using that same audience, I also decided to create a click-through banner in the food.net website, where the idea of these paper towels being as unreliable as they are, could reemphasize the message of 'ripping' and 'breaking apart'. The click through link would bring the viewers to the Facebook page of Scrawny, where they can 'LIKE' the page and follow more memes and other reviews of customers who have unfortunate stories about paper towels ruining their day.

Website Click-Through

STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES: Overall, I think that this ad would be successful in creating a brand awareness for Scrawny Paper Towels as being the absolute worst paper towel manufacturer ever. I think the audience would enjoy laughing at these ads after they have already shed their tears on a frustrating spill that was made worse by the experience of a pathetic “wilted ripper-upper”. (Quicker Picker Upper Spoof)