Stand and Deliver!

I fell in love with this ad, made by GetUp, as soon as I saw it – not just because it’s clever, it’s for a good cause, and the punchline actually works, but also because I recognise so many comedians in the cast. Good on everyone involved.

But.

I did think the parody name was leaving the entire project open to legal redress. You don’t need to know that the name ‘Censordyne’ is a parody of a real product. But if you’ve ever suffered from sensitive teeth, you’d be familiar with Sensodyne. I didn’t want to blog about it at the time – I don’t want to be the guy that inadvertently informs the owners of the original product that there might be some kind of… something infringement.

Well, no need for me to fear that – GlaxoSmithKline, owners of Sensodyne, are already aware, as the Sydney Morning Herald explained in the same article that outlined the Censordyne ad’s censorship. Turns out Qantas won’t run it because the airline’s policy is to not run any political advertisements. GetUp wanted it on all of Qantas’s domestic flights to Canberra, so that all politicians would have the opportunity to see it.

Maybe a public battle with GlaxomithKline will have the same result – getting the ad on prime time television as the story is reported on the news and those after-news gossip shows that purport to be about current affairs.

I notice that when you try to watch the Censordyne ad on the SMH website, it is preceded by an advertisement for dental hygiene. Not a GlaxoSmithKline ad, though – rather, an ad for Procter & Gamble product, Oral-B. Is this further grounds for GlaxoSmithKline to allege damages? Oughtn’t that make SMH also partly responsible? Who’s going to be paying through the teeth for this, I wonder? (Not me – I’m giving both firms and products equal billing. Because I brush with Sensodyne on an Oral-B brush. Your Honour.)