I’m the mother of a tween. Which means—by definition—I don’t always understand what she’s saying. (And the stuff I do understand—like, “I was LITERALLY dying,” literally makes me want to hurl).
This is perhaps why I cried with laughter when I saw the new series of ads for Reynolds Consumer Products’ new Hefty Ultimate Easy Grip plastic cups. The digital-only campaign, launched yesterday and developed by Havas Worldwide’s Chicago office, features three typical-looking “moms” recounting, in deadpan teen vernacular, anecdotes about the wild parties they attended last night.
Here’s the entire script of one of the spots: “So last night Kendall Snapped me and was all like, ‘Come over!’ And I was like, ‘Ugh, I’m bingeing on my shows, girl.’ And she’s like, ‘Get over here, girl, this party is tight!’ FOMO kicked in so I went. Tore that spot up. Drinks were flowing. I won King’s cup. Yay-es. Then we hopped over the neighbor’s fence to use their hot tub. The rest is kind of a blur, but I do remember a dude that looked like Abe Lincoln, and I’m pretty sure he had floaties on. Literally dying. RIP me. Oh–Jen just tweeted that there’s mac and cheese all over her crawl space. Today, the struggle is real, but I’m just like: Worth it.” The spots end with hardcore music and the hashtag #Partyhardmoms.
The ads may send even tween moms to the Urban Dictionary for help (“on fleek” means perfect). But more than that, they are great because they portray their target audience—moms who do the shopping—as more than just maternal stereotypes. Says Lynnette Hinch, director of marketing for Hefty: “Traditionally, Moms are depicted in a one-dimensional way and we know that they are more complex than that.” They get to be part of a new stereotype instead—perhaps not ideal, in that it’s that of an annoying teenager—but at least it’s something different. The campaign seems to be taking off: in their first 24 hours, the three ads were viewed 185,000 times on Facebook and 97,000 times on YouTube.
The campaign is the first in the history of Hefty Cups–the Avis to the Solo brand’s Hertz–but this is only one of 25 different spots for the cups that will air digitally, says Lisa Evia, the group account manager at Havas for Hefty. Another involves a bunch of eight year olds “raging” at a birthday party. And no, that doesn’t mean having temper tantrums.
Okay, fellow moms, I’m “hashtag OUT.” Taking my Hefty cup and going cray. But first I’m going to teach my tween the literal meaning of “literal.”
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