Garoto Bombril (first spot)
Bombril1978
Garoto Bombril (first spot) is a 1978 television commercial (first of a long-running series) for Bombril, created by DPZ, São Paulo.
Why it works
A slight, shy young man looks straight at the viewer and introduces a Bombril detergent that promises to be gentler on the skin. His character, presented as the company's own chemist, would become famous for claiming no more than that the products had "um negócio", a certain something, in the formula. It was DPZ's first job for Bombril, in 1978. Francesc Petit found Brazilian advertising arrogant towards women, and Washington Olivetto reasoned that women were by then more charmed by Woody Allen's fragility than John Wayne's machismo; so instead of the usual housewife, a cleaning product was sold by a modest man, Carlos Moreno, a stage actor found through André Bukowinski's production company ABA. Moreno was hired for four films and stayed for hundreds, over more than three decades, and in 1994 the campaign entered the Guinness Book for its longevity. It is studied for that consistency and for what Olivetto calls bringing colloquial speech into Brazilian advertising.
Techniques
- Mascots and characters A shy young spokesman, presented as the company's own chemist, becomes a recurring character who fronts hundreds of films over decades.
- Plain folks Replaces the usual housewife or macho hero with a modest, fragile man speaking colloquially and claiming only a certain something in the formula.
Sources · 4
- O nascimento do Garoto Bombril
- Primeiro sutiã, mamíferos Parmalat e Garoto Bombril: publicitários contam bastidores de campanhas icônicas
- Olivetto criou obras-primas da publicidade, do ‘Garoto Bombril’ ao ‘meu primeiro sutiã’; assista
- Garoto Bombril: Por onde anda Carlos Moreno dos comerciais de Olivetto
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