If you’ve got kids then there’s a good chance you’ve heard of and experienced Horrible Histories. Wanna know why kids like Horrible Histories? Two words, blood ‘n’ guts. In truth there’s a whole lot more besides, but a key reason why Horrible Histories is such a success is they bring the yucky, gooey, bloody, deadly bits that kids love, into learning. Take a quick look:
A coat parachute – what a dumb idea! Now, where was I…? Oh yeah, blood ‘n’ guts.
Keira and I were watching TV a few days ago when a Frubes advert came on. ‘I like these ads’, I said, ‘they’re the ones with rip their heads off and suck their guts out aren’t they Keira?’ Keira looked at me somewhat crestfallen. ‘Not any more Dad, they’ve made them rubbish – take a look’. And Keira was right. Where previously Frubes glorified in the deathly delights of ripping off a frubes head before sucking its guts out, we now have to tolerate ‘Rip their tops off and eat them all up’. According to Keira that is ‘totes lame’.
I looked into this and though the manufacturers of Frubes have remained silent on the matter, the Advertising Standards Authority confirmed they had not approached anyone at Frube Towers regarding complaints or a change. I did see a few folk on Mumsnet were having a whinge about it, hmmm?
This blandifying of what was once a fab slogan strikes me as a pretty dumb thing to do to your customers, what do your kids think about it? And in the meantime, here’s a little trip down memory lane for old time’s sake:
It’s all a conspiracy to ensure that no-one gets offended / scared / shocked. So so wrong and it just makes the world a duller place with duller adverts (and I LOVE good adverts)
The same has happened to the PG Tips advert where in the original ad, Monkey got snatched by an eagle at the end but now he gets dropped into the eagle’s nest in one piece and sings a stupid song with the eagle chicks so everyone knows he’s OK. Listen kids, in the real world monkey would get eaten alive by the eaglets so just man-up!
I heard a talk recently where it was acknowledged that human nature remembers the negative more than the positive so I bet the sales of Frubes and PG Tips goes down now because there are no tearful children crying to Mummy and Daddy that Monkey’s been eaten.
Personally, I thought the Peperami adverts were ace ……..
…but then you always were a bit of an animal 😉
Hi Doug
‘Slimey Stuarts’, ‘Rotten Romans’, ‘Vile Victorians’, they’re great aren’t they? It’s one of the few programmes that both my daughter and son will agree on watching together and they both laugh like drains and squeal with disgust in equal measures. Plus they like the book version. Can’t comment on the Frubes advert change of slogan… (I’m behind the times, thought it was still advocating ‘ripping heads off’!)
Children are very influenced by TV ads though – we were driving recently and something bounced off the windscreen; my two, right on cue, started singing, ‘Autoglass repair, Autoglass replace…!’ from the back seat 🙂
As usual, Keira provides the cutting insight: ‘totes lame’.
As a strategic planner, THE starting point is ALWAYS the audience. When marketing a product, or communicating a message, it’s paramount that you look at how your audience want to be spoken to; where they are; what they are saying.
Children know what they want. They know they world they live in and they also know instinctively when comms or programmes are ‘dumbed down’ in order to placate them and conform to standards of ‘acceptability’.
I’m not for one moment advocating the de-sensitisation of children (that’s another blog post entirely), but we have to accept the fact that children today are a damn savvy bunch – and who can blame them? They live in a world that is awash with overt adult communications and they are exposed to all sorts of messages, ads and content that is probably not suited to them.
So it seems ironic, that a great concept that kids love – ripping their ‘eads off and slurping up their guts – is being toned down, while other, arguably more offensive material is widely accessible to kids.
Frubes may be changing its strategy to appeal to over-cautious mums a little more readily, but although mum is the customer, kids are the CONSUMER – and if your consumer thinks you’re ‘totes lame’, then it may be advisable to reconsider your communications strategy.
(These views are ALL my own and not those of my employer etc. Unless they think they’re wonderful and want to reward me accordingly.)
Cheers dude – I’m starting to wonder if a career in marketing awaits Keira?
I agree – let’s not get too heavy about this but a frube is an inanimate object and I’ve yet to hear of any horror story playground decapitations attributed to the ads.
I think your views are wonderful – I hope your company agrees 🙂
Doug
Although I agree with your sentiment perhaps “Friday Fury” is a little over zealous in the emotion stakes….I opened your post with baited breath waiting to hear that I have been feeding my precious small people something other than “yoghurt in a tube” to see that the fury was “how it is being advertised” – I suspect they probably just got someone new in marketing who hasn’t yet worked out “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”
Have a fabulous Friday filled with frivolity and not fury lovely Doug
Lisa
PS Horrible Histories is totes awesome!
Yo Lisa! Friday Fury is an ongoing series of rants, some more furious than others. It started as a single blog post then some bright spark suggested I keep it going.
I now wish I’d lied and said there’s Mercury and Poo and stuff in the frube machine, but that wouldn’t have been right.
Interestingly, the makers of frubes are refusing to comment on why the change. I like your suggestion.
I’m calmer now – and looking forward to a frube free frivolous weekend.
Super to hear from you, thanks 🙂