The Motz of Butz: A Shot in the Oil Furnace

Have you ever consciously watched the commercials for heating oil? If not, then you could have saved yourself some advertising junk. A busybody and his pimped-out wife invite their best friends to a gourmet dinner to celebrate the housewarming. After a boastful short speech by the man of the house, they toast the celebration with a glass of Cüpli. Up until then, the commercial was rather embarrassing. But now comes the punchline. Anyone who hasn't seen the commercial themselves will accuse me of gross exaggeration. So the heating doesn't work or the landlord and his chick have forgotten to switch it on. The effect of this faux pas is that the champagne in the glasses is frozen and the freezing cold makes the wife's tongue stick to the rim of the glass. That's pretty much how this commercial from the Petroleum Association comes across. But that's not all, because there are two more spots. You have to see them: Link.

To get a better idea of the whole thing, I delved into the Heinz oil advertisement. This construct was concocted by one of my favorite agencies, Ruf Lanz. They are actually known for creating visually strong ideas that make the desired statement with wit and, above all, to the point. Here the shot goes into the oven.

You stand in front of the customer and explain this ingenious idea to them: "If you don't heat with oil, Putin could turn off the gas tap or the electricity could fail, wood or charcoal could run out. And then the Cüplis could freeze. So it's better to heat with oil. What do you think of the idea? We will then illustrate the story with a lot of irony, so that only stupid people don't heat with oil. The joke with the tongue will attract more attention." I think that in this day and age, people freezing in our climes seems implausible. I also don't believe that more oil is being burned because of this stupid advertising. I can imagine that it is not an easy task to advertise heating oil. But this approach conveys the wrong tonality in addition to the attempt to portray the competition, gas and electricity, as unsafe heating systems, which thankfully nobody notices.

I'm glad I had my smelly oil pan disposed of 24 years ago. And my throttle works great.

My player of the week was our magic dwarf, who lived up to his name against Littau.

Theophil Butz, graphic designer, advertising agency owner, inspirer and, for more than three years now, also a mothballs for Werbewoche readers. Please send any relevant information to [email protected].