This wholesome, nostalgic ad is anything but modern, yet well suited to these weird times
Ooh, we love a soft target, we ad people. At first glance, Wink Bingo's ‘Pyjama dance' - which does pretty much what it says on the label - is a very soft target indeed.
Not least because the pyjamas in question - pink, weapons-grade winceyette - are occupied by a comedy stalwart so old as to be of the petrified school. At one time, Hattie Jacques would have got this gig. ‘Amply comfortable' describes the artiste in this contemporary work, but the lady doesn't sing - she dances.
Dancing is but a loose description of her many talents. Truthfully, she sort-of-dances, but also appears to ease her arthritic limbs, scratch some nagging itches, practice semaphore, suffer occasional bouts of lockjaw and - the exciting catch - defies gravity to gyrate on the ceiling. No, really: she goes through 360° to get back to her PC. Any whiff of sex is smothered by her robust costume and a wholesomeness that is almost cloying.
This remarkable achievement is performed to a Fred Astaire sound-alike, ululating over Stars On 45 or similar. It's that modern. The dance takes 60 luxurious seconds. Drench's ‘Brains' it isn't.
Why the ad? Well, we're in online gambling country. In among the rash of poker brands, this is the National Lottery For The Rest Of Us. This is the ‘good cause' of Wink Bingo. I suspect some strategist of pouting: ‘We want to be a cheap relation to Camelot, but not a poor one.' Hmm. Almost.
I wanted Wink Bingo to be a dashing character in a classic comedy caper of the old school. I'd wondered about other, secretive boys' dorm games the name suggests. But no, Wink Bingo really is advertising bingo online, as modest and innocent as Tupperware. A top-whack win seems to be about 150 quid. The website aesthetic is part recession chic, part Festival of Britain.
Among the heavily loaded messages that grace the top 20 list above, this ad is a simple piece of nostalgia reworked, in a way that TV nanny knows best. It's not great, but it's a long, long way from awful - I've only seen it once and I looked up the website, the prizes and more besides.
In other words, for what is asked of it, job done. As to whether it's a pure pellet of cultural compression or just a fat girl jiggling in her jim-jams, I'll let you decide.