I stumbled upon CHI Superbite TVC which features Melvin Oduah, former Big Brother Africa contestant and I was so appalled. Not by the good looks of Melvin and the pretty damsel but by the concept of the advert.
Melvin was portrayed as a desperate lover who will do anything to have the girl of his dream, even if it includes picking up unhealthy cuts of CHI Superbite sausage roll as clues.
The ad takes the viewer on a random voyage where Melvin is seen picking up cuts of the sausage roll from unhealthy places including from a taxi driver. These cuts are clues left by the lady who has captured his heart.
With each sausage cut found and munched, Melvin draws nearer to the abode of the mystery woman. At the end of the ad, we see an excited Melvin finally at the door of his crush. He is welcomed into a gathering of ladies, with the mystery lover occupying centre stage, charming him with her smiles, while others pulled the sleeves of his denim shirt. The end clip shows the model mounting a stand cheerfully and showing off his body.
From my understanding, the ad should portray the CHI brand as fun, vibrant and trendy. However, the creators of the ad neglected the hygiene part. With the current Ebola scare, it is very wrong to show footage of Melvin receiving a sausage cut from a taxi driver.
If the cuts were collected and stacked in a bag or somewhere else, it would have been understandable, but to show the immediate consumption of the snack is a goof.
Earlier in the year, the brand tried to leverage on one of the sensational events that marked the 2014 World Cup in June, the famous Uruguayan footballer Luis Suarez bite on Italian national footballer Giorgio Chiellini. In an online ad, it played with the word ‘Bite Me’, which is slightly overlapped by the product itself depicted by a row of teeth.
As a consumer product, the ad agency should not neglect the potential health hazards the TVC might portray while delivering a creative job. All elements must be considered to ensure that the brand message is effectively conveyed without raising eyebrows.