Snickers's 'Medusa' print ad gets mixed reviews

'Medusa' by BBDO New York
Snickers after the release of its 30-second Brady Bunchthemed Super Bowl spot has gone ahead to make an interesting media selection for its next ad. The new print ad that takes forward the brand's 'You're not you when you're hungry' joke format, appears on the back cover of Sports Illustrated's new Swimsuit Issue.

While Hannah Davis dominates the front cover of the magazine, on the back appears Medusa, symbolising the fact that models do act like her when they miss out on getting a bar of Snickers.

We asked two adwallis - Anshdeep Kaur associate creative director (Copy), Bang In The Middle and Shradha Joshi senior creative director, Enormous Brands - for their opinion on this particular print ad. Here's what they had to say.

Idea

Shradha Joshi: Perhaps Snickers has overreached with their insight regarding the change in people caused by hunger. The idea to use a mythological being fails here, as irritated barely begins to describe Medusa.

Anshdeep Kaur: This particular execution, interestingly, has two layers – hunger transforming a model into a mythological monster; and the second, more brilliant part, is the media innovation itself. The ad is made to look like an evil doppelganger of the front cover. Overall, a nice and fresh interpretation of the very popular campaign.

Creative execution

Shradha Joshi: The execution has messed up badly by trying to straddle two looks. The metallic costume, and the organic use of some archaic reptilian implant. The looks clash discordantly.

Anshdeep Kaur: Nothing short of brilliant. Every single detail has been looked into, with even Sports Illustrated changed to Super Irritated. Art direction is fabulous, the copy is no great shakes but it isn't supposed to be either – the sub-heads are the thoughts of a hungry monstermodel after all.



Brand connect

Shradha Joshi: Snickers has always maintained its quirky interpretation of an insight into hunger. To bring in these elements of mythology into it only confuses the image in the consumer's mind. And the play on Sports Illustrated certainly doesn't help.

Anshdeep Kaur: It's also great. For a while now, Snickers has actively tried to own the 'convenient snack' space. The 'You are not you' campaign combines a great insight with entertaining execution. This ad too, staying true to the campaign, connects well with the smart and fun candy brand.

Brand recall

Shradha Joshi: The brand cannot be found in either the tone or content of this ad. Proving that an insight can be overstreched.

Anshdeep Kaur: The first two things which hit you after Madam Medusa herself are 'Super Irritated' and 'Hunger made me'. Brand recall? Yes. It's a Snickers ad, and you don't need a pack-shot to tell you that.

Effectiveness of the ad

Shradha Joshi: In all surety this ad will be just glanced over. Not hurting the brand as much as being a waste of money and other resources.

Anshdeep Kaur: Snickers being more of an at-thecounter, whimsical sort of purchase, it's pointless measuring the effectiveness of the ad in terms of sales. But when it comes to brand building, the ad does the job and does it well.

If you had to, how would you do it differently?

Shradha Joshi: Firstly I would use a far more relatable character such as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Which would put forward the idea of transformation due to hunger much better. To put forward the titillating aspect of swimsuit illustrated, I would just make the doctor female. Who doesn't like a sexy woman in a white labcoat?

Anshdeep Kaur: I would change nothing about this ad. The beauty of the entire campaign lies in its extendibility. There are a hundred ways of interpreting the line 'You're not you when you're hungry', with executions differing as per the medium of choice.