Spiked: Dr. Best is the best

Advertising is exhausting: good-looking, wealthy, young, happy people everywhere who want us to want to be like them. But how nice is advertising with Dr. Best, the Trigema monkey, Mr. Fischer from Fischer's bedding factory in "Wädenschwil" or the I-recommend-Perlweiss dentist's wife. Because compared to these characters, I finally look better than the ones in the adverts (apart from the dentist's wife, perhaps), I don't have bleeding gums, nor do I need a shirt guaranteed to be made in Germany (by a monkey), let alone a personalized comforter. Happy, without needs and a smile in the corner of my mouth - life can be so beautiful! Unfortunately, there is far too little advertising of this kind.

Now, finally, comes the Dr. Best revival. The reincarnation of the dental good guy is called Dr. Klenk, comes from Bielefeld in North Rhine-Westphalia and advertises the fantastic effect of caffeine. As "doping for the hair". In the form of a shampoo. For the cosmetics brand Alpecin.

The "jut und jünstisch" TV commercial shows laboratory head Dr. Adolf Klenk in the Alpecin laboratory in Bielefeld. As the camera moves towards the caffeine expert, the voiceover raises the question of whether Alpecin's caffeine shampoo can prevent the growth phases of the hair roots from shortening - because it is precisely these shortened phases that cause ageing men's hair to fall out. Dr. Klenk, dressed in a freshly ironed white coat, turns from his computer to the camera and answers with a stretched "in der Taaaaat!" ("indeeeeed" in the English version). He backs up his statement with an absurd growth curve. Wonderful. Hilarious. Wonderful.

Ridiculous? Nonsense? That's not how advertising works? But it does. The hand-turned commercial has made a huge impact: Alpecin's caffeine shampoo is selling like hot cakes, Dr. Klenk, who really is called that and is actually the head of the laboratory, can no longer step out of the front door in his home town of Verl without someone wanting to tousle his full, silver-grey hair, there are loads of Klenk fans and friends on Facebook and Twitter and "in der Taaaaat!" has caused a viral sensation as a ringtone. Apparently the world has had enough of advertising faces that are too young, too beautiful, too slick or currently bearded. What is the expansive wasteland of flawless beauty against the security and warmth that the somewhat angular Dr. Klenk radiates? The title and coat provide a bit of stability in the midst of the widespread bling bling.

Dr. Best and Dr. Klenk are not only good for our perfection-stressed eyes and tussled hair. You should also introduce the two doctors to each other. Because Dr. Best urgently needs some hair in the right place (I've seen caffeine in a commercial), and Dr. Best should take a closer look at Dr. Klenk's lower jaw. For a better, duvet-soft world. In the taaaaat.

The spots
Dr. Klenk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8W0CxWYkbo
Dr. Best: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkugFArSlqE
Trigema: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLdWn_0zEEE
Fischer bedding: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RMvEmvOb-o