The Case of Dabur Herbal Toothpaste Ad.

Watching NTA, Africa’s largest network has become so cumbersome and if it wasn't Government owned and funded (not sure of the funding part though!!!) I would have suggested that the station be shut down for a complete upgrade and overhauling of programming.

Now, this review isn’t because of the many flaws of the network, but because of the ‘Dabur Herbal Toothpaste advert that aired. Similar to the Harpic cleaning solution advert where our Nollywood celebrities went from door to door with a camera crew asking household related questions, Dabur Toothpaste ad features Muna Abii former Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria turned acclaimed hip hop rapper mechanically matching into a restaurant and accosting a customer if they had bad breathe. 

While the latter had a better approach to home owners, as stated earlier, Muna had a mechanical style and if she was meant to be a superhero or the solution provider to all bad breath issues (this is because of the wind that seemed to be blowing at her hair) her role was truly icy coupled with her pair of contacts, which was really troubling and definitely scared the crap out of the customers approached.

Well maybe this was the strategy for Dabur, ‘icy queen/solution provider to bad breath issues’, but the fact that lines were not even in-sync with the movement of her lips on NTA, not sure of other stations, also made viewing the advert terrible.

To be able to share my excruciating pain with you guys, I searched YouTube, Facebook and even IrokoTV for the advert to upload for your viewing pleasure or displeasure, but I guess non-availability of the advert is also a strategy. So at this junction, I would like to say to agencies and advertisers alike, the use of social media tools like Facebook and YouTube is a good avenue for you to measure what people think about your advert before deploying to electronic mediums such as television or radio. Through this method, you actively engage customers and get their view and eventually, become a brand that cares what your customers or potential customers think about you.

Have you seen the Dabur Toothpaste commercial with Muna, let me know what you think?