The WSJ had an article that I really enjoyed this Wednesday*. All about advertising aimed at “Chavs”, it didn’t make my day but quite. Some jewels (big shiny fake jewels – we’re talking about Chavs):

First, the Fact:

London -- SOME NEW TELEVISION and magazine ads here are so bawdy and laden with crude jokes that it almost looks like teenage boys took over creative duties at the advertising agencies.


Honestly, this is no big news – ad agencies are run by teenagers. They look older but that’s the coke.

Then, the Definition - I guess this is like in the movie “28 Days Later”, the plague has been contained to the UK, so you might like to know what this is all about:

"Chav is normally used to describe a young, lower-class person who typically behaves in a brash or loutish way and who wears designer clothes," says a spokeswoman for the Oxford English Dictionary, which is expected to add the word this year.


Ouh - spokeswoman for the Oxford English Dictionary, this is serious stuff.

The article gives you more details:

(…) those in the chav demographic typically earn low wages, but tend to have few debts because they aren't pursuing higher education and don't have household bills because they live with their parents until about age 23, says Ian Pierpoint, who co-wrote the Vegas report.


In a word, post-teenagers still with mom and dad with bad tastes and enough money to express them (man, you have to see what they are wearing).

So what is the fuss about?

chavs are somewhat unusual in that makers of basic consumer goods are going after them.


Ha ha! Where there is demand… A nice new segment to target, let’s unleash the creatives.

I have seen the ads on TV, they are as stupid, boring and exasperating as any other. After all, the UK is the country of Churchill, the dog who sells you insurance.

Anyway, the article is a fun read, and it is enlightening: I can’t wait to see the next P&G gizmo aimed at Chavs: perhaps a powered toothbrush doubling as a vibrator sold with its lubricant toothpaste in the Ann Summers stores? – What? not “crude” and “teenage-boy” enough?


*: U.K Ads Try Common Touch to Lure Chavs by R. Matthews