Formoline

5 July 2008 by Silky

It’s just turned lunch time in the offices of Cobblers & Shitbiscuit Advertising Agency (that makes it 10:31 precisely) and Bertie Cobblers is struggling to finish the Sun quick crossword again as Silky returns from his long brunch.

“What-oh, Silky! Help me out with this blasted crossword, will you? 5 across, 8 letters ‘Found on front doors and Page 3′, K-N-something-C-K-something-R-S”

“Erm, no. No idea, Bertie. But good news, old chum, I’ve got us a job!”

“Oh no, I don’t want to hold a Golf Sale sign all day long.”

“No, no, Bertie, it’s not that again. It’s for a tele advert and they’re going to pay us Â£200.”

“Oh boy, Â£200? That is good news. What’s it for?”

“I don’t know exactly. Something called Formoline; it’s for women or something.”

“Right, well how can we drive home the name of the product and that it’s for women without revealing the fact we’ve absolutely no idea what it’s for?”

“That is a tricky one, Bertie, that is a tricky one.”

Thanks to Cath for submitting this bad ad.

Just How Bad is this Ad?

22 Votes

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11Responses:

Daniel

July 5th, 2008 2:48 pm

Wow, that has to be the most pointless ad ever. It even fails at advertising the product, let alone being interesting.
Mike Empuria

July 6th, 2008 5:35 am

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the advert works in name recognition. Form a Line > Formoline. Easy to remember.

It would help if the ad said what the product did but that’s possibly part of the campaign strategy. The next on is going to have the same thing but with calorifically challenged women forming the queue, or perhaps thicker writing.
Hannah

July 6th, 2008 9:02 am

Funnily enough when I DID get round to visiting Formoline.co.uk, the site wouldn’t even load. I’m still none the wiser as to who the product is for [sic]…
Bex

July 6th, 2008 8:01 pm

Ahhh..slimming tablets!

Formoline…form a line…just take a tablet and lose all of those unsightly pounds! Side effects may vary but include increased weight and death from damaged internal organs! Availiable at Boots for an extortionate amount of money (probably)! Keep away from children if they are as stupid as you are!

Brits…we love to queue…
PCWB

July 7th, 2008 8:18 am

My guess here is that they don’t want to say what formoline is, due to the fact that everytime someone mentions slimming tablets, most people with half a brain cell just switch off because we know it’s a load of old boloney.
Also I would guess that they are not able to make any claims on an advert about their slimming pills for fear of having to substantiate them to the ASA when thousands of people that have nothing else to do with their worthless little lives complain about the claims in the advert.
Gina

July 8th, 2008 12:56 pm

I feel strange being the only one to understand something, but Formaline is quite clearly selling formic acid, a supplement aimed at pregnant women. I suppose it’s not marketed at men …
PCWB

July 8th, 2008 1:09 pm

Sorry Gina, but your wrong on this occasion. Go to the website and it clearly says: “Formoline L112 is a weight management tablet that can reduce the absorption of dietary fats and so reduce the calorie intake.” and that: “Formoline L112 contains polyglucosamine. More specifically it contains ÃŸ-1,4 polymer of D-glucosamine and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine. These components are extracted from the shells of crustaceans. It also contains vitamin C, tartaric acid, silicone dioxide and magnesium stearate (of vegetable origin).” Sounds rather moorish eh? BTW - am I the only one on a night out that plays the fat or pregnant game?
Helsie

July 8th, 2008 8:08 pm

Gina- you’re thinking of folic acid. Formic acid is what certain types of ants squirt at you if you go near them as a deterrent from you eating them. Which neatly brings us back to diet pills. Maybe they do contain formic acid then…..yum yum!
louise

July 9th, 2008 9:59 pm

with the queue of people i thought it was an incontinence product
Gina

July 15th, 2008 2:13 pm

It IS for diet pills! I nearly recommended it to my pregnant sister-in-law as well. This might be first complaint to the ASA…
kirsty

August 24th, 2008 2:23 pm

I actually now work for formaline.co.uk and do all the order processing. The site only went up 2 weeks ago and we’ve had like 2 orders! They did the advertising campaign wayyyy too early. Anyway this is a pointless advert!