In a strange new twist in the ongoing battle of the TV networks and the old adage ‘sex sells,’ two specialty giants are vying for the sexiest use of fruit to attract female viewers.
Corus’s launch campaign for How to Look Good Naked Canada on W Network, with creative by Zig, includes women posing naked with food. One execution with an apple has the tagline, ‘Learn to love your apple bottom.’ The ad was part of a larger campaign that ran last month in Toronto and Vancouver, and included on-air promo, radio and online.
‘We selected popular descriptors women use to talk about their bodies such as the muffin top or pear shape,’ says Shelley Findlay, VP marketing, women’s specialty television, Corus Entertainment. ‘[It’s] about learning to love your body, regardless of its shape.’
Meanwhile Canwest’s bikini-wearing peaches and oranges promote the Real Housewives series on Slice. ‘We thought it was a little risky and provocative, but that it was also fresh and fun for something we’re launching in the dead of winter,’ says Solange Bernard, Canwest’s director of marketing strategy, lifestyle channels. The in-house campaign ran through January and included TV, radio, print, OOH, online and lingerie-clad street teams in Toronto.
Now that’s what we call selling sex…or possibly fruit.