Louise attacks Vicks First Defence

I get the tube every day and every day I suffer these awful poster ads for Vicks First Defence. I admit, I am finding it difficult to vocalise my dislike, and don't fret, it's not because I don't believe in over-the-counter cold and flu remedies (I don't, but still...)

To recap, the ads features a face made up of tube lines, 'cleverly' looking like nasal passages or whatever. This isn't clever. Everyone uses tube lines. That poster on the buses that is meant to stop you getting tanked up on a weekend features tubes lines, and... dun dun dun... TFL do it all the time!

The Vicks creative is made for the tube medium specifically, which is why the overall idea for me isn't obvious, so it's just not media-neutral. I can't see it outside the tube and I don't. How does it tie in with other mediums? Well, they have some chronic 'yoof-orientated' website http://www.diarydefender.com/which bears little relation to their tube communications at all! The website is more about 'let's attack cold viruses and defend our diary', the tube poster is purely focussed on the end result, 'don't let a cold ruin your life'. There is a line between attack and defence, and Vicks blur it completely!

In the tube ad, the body copy talks about your social life, which in no way ties into the tube-face, until the endline which talks about journeys. This is far too tenuous. The ideas don't gel enough.

Also, I hate their strapline, 'people not symptoms', and I just don't know why!! It's incredibly wet, which doesn't endear me to them, but also it just doesn't seem gramatically sensical. 'People not symptoms' you say, so what? It's just a statement, it's not an action. If they'd said 'Treating people' or something like that, it shows that they are consumer-centric (like they intended), but that they also have a purpose.