'Ethel and Frank' is a new company that's selling old-school vintage products with modern mockery ads. Kelly Diaz's new line of vintage handbags is the focus of these ads, which feature sassy old grandmas sporting kitschy swag and modeling in slow-motion to electro-pop.
The ads have 65-year-old women doing everything from the splits in a classy fur coat to seductively licking ice cream cones while rocking a t-shirt that says "cool story bro."
While Diaz could have marketed the vintage handbag line in a pretentious way, she instead teamed up with director Michael Zimmerman to use humor in a more successful advertising campaign. "I'm a chick who works in advertising and got bored with chick advertising," Diaz explains her ad scheme bluntly. These mockery ads celebrate the fact that being old is cool, both in vintage fashion as well as literally with age.
What Makes This Trend Stand Out
- Mockery Advertising
- Businesses can create advertising campaigns that poke fun at stereotypes to appeal to younger audiences and challenge ageism.
- Vintage Fashion
- Companies can capitalize on the nostalgia of vintage products and styles to attract both older and younger consumers.
- Humor-based Marketing
- By using humor in their marketing, companies can stand out and create more successful advertising campaigns, as demonstrated by the success of 'Ethel and Frank' ads.
Sectors Adopting This
- Fashion
- Fashion companies can incorporate vintage styles and mock elderly models into their advertising campaigns to appeal to a wider range of consumers.
- Entertainment
- Entertainment companies can produce movies or TV shows that feature elderly actors and actresses in leading roles to challenge ageism and appeal to older audiences.
- Advertising
- Ad agencies can experiment with humor-based campaigns and use mock elderly models to appeal to younger audiences and create more memorable ads.
