Making Metamucil Sexy

What do you do with a collection of legacy brands when you need to breathe new life into your company? P&G doesn't look far. The owner of such classic brands as Mr. Clean, Old Spice and Metamucil believes it is better to reposition those brands than to develop new ones. And while the Old Spice campaign seems ridiculously funny to those of us who smelled this drugstore brand on our uncles, making Metamucil a 'beauty' product seems even more farfetched.

Yes, P&G hopes to help you look better, from the inside out. Campaign analysts are having a field day with this one. From calling it a "gutsy ad" to making references to "gut feelings" I'd say P&G has an uphill battle in trying to make this 75 year old laxative brand appealing to 30-somethings. How do you appeal to the young and the fabulous without alienating your existing customers? In this age of looking good, you do it by selling the benefits of enhanced beauty.

Publicis, the agency charged with brand repositioning for metamucil, has crafted sophisticated ads and sexy TV spots with beautiful women putting on makeup or fixing their hair. There is no dull talk of regularity. It's all about looking great and feeling fabulous. The product is only seen in the reflection on the mirror, alongside messages such as "primp" and "beautify your inside." The product isn't sexy, but the campaign certainly is aimed at the body-conscious.

Adweek asks if the campaign isn't marching on dangerous territory:

"Consciously or not (and if not, this seems to be a case of Clueless 101), it directly feeds into the preoccupations of girls with eating disorders, whose arsenal of products to abuse already tends to include laxatives. It shows a skinny, attractive, young model (at most in her early 20s) with her head and shoulders on the ground and her body in an upside down, weirdly contorted position, all the better to focus on her super-flat stomach. "Drop-dead gorgeous guts" reads the headline. The copy begins, "Help your not-so-glam insides reach supermodel status" and ends with "Just add Metamucil to your already diva-conscious diet and your insides will be haute-haute-haute."

Yes, apparently even our insides now need to be deemed of "diva-worthy" status. In fact, the FAQs section of the product web site does, in fact, focus a bit too much on net carbs for my comfort. Trust me, if you can sell women the requirement benefit of additional beauty and sex appeal (inside and out, apparently), the young and the impressionable (or 30-something and curious) will be lined up to buy your product. Let's just hope Metamucil isn't going too far with the campaign.