Over two years ago, Dannon began promoting its Activia yogurt with the special ingredient, Bifidus Regularis, a “nonsense word that’s been trademarked,” as dubbed by American Copywriter. The ingredient is supposed to make women more regular, to use acceptable vernacular. Because marketers can’t always come right out and say what they mean – in this case, “Dannon, the yogurt that helps you shit better” – meaningless words have to be created to sugar coat what every person over the age of five can see right through.
So now we have Jamie Lee Curtis, who has seemingly approached an appropriate age to which women who suffer from this malady can relate to, sitting comfortably on a green couch with just the right amount of gray hair and just the right amount of commercial spunk so as to make this piece of work both good and fodder for middle school bathroom humor.
Knowing Jamie Lee Curtis, you just know she was hurling middle school bathroom humor of her own all over the set as the commercial was shot. And that is meant to be taken kindly. She can be wonderfully comedic. We just wish Y&R would release the outtake reel (you know there was one) so we could all enjoy some more of her humor and all the other shenanigans that come with a shoot like this.
Of her involvement with the campaign, Curtis said, “Digestive problems are important and surprisingly common but we don’t discuss them. Whereas we routinely talk about other uncomfortable topics, such as erectile dysfunction, digestive health is not being addressed- and it’s time to change that. I am not afraid to talk about bowel issues – there I said it – and I’m very committed to help people find solutions, like a balanced diet and Activia. It is rewarding to be the ice breaker who speaks openly about digestive health and irregularity, and make it easier for people to find a solution.”
Over the course of the campaign Curtis will continue to speak openly about the issue of irregularity and Dannon’s claim its Activia has been clinically proven to help with digestive problems.
