This is the first page from a recent spread in The National Enquirer for the stem cell containing beauty creams, Amatokin and Strivectin.
The controversial ingredient of this product was once the constant subject of front page debate in the United States a few years ago. Happily for the advertiser, this paved the road for the $190 price for a 30-day supply, which is far higher than even the most expensive beauty creams not containing stem cells.
Notice how the “beauty editor” in this ad “gives the edge” to the higher priced product in her review, while at the same time, taking a potshot at a competitor’s product.
The parentheses laden sentence beneath is pretty good “reason why advertising,” though the first part has a cooked up feel to marketers like us. I wonder if the company has tested elaborating on the connection between burn research and anti-aging.
Developed in Russia at the “super-secret” Research and Production Center for Medical Biotechnology (a high security medical lab located 62 miles north of St. Petersburg, surrounded by razor wire and machine-gun-toting armed guards…no kidding), the Amatokin peptide (known in official circles as polypeptide #153) was developed as part of ongoing research to help burn victims (interestingly, today’s most important “anti-aging compounds are derived from burn related research).
Coincidentally, I linked up with one of the great direct marketing pioneers two weeks ago, who’s involved in a similar project and he’ll be writing the copy for the forthcoming space ad. I hope to be able to provide you with the full details sometime soon.
I think that once someone reads about the “Super Secret” Russian research and production center, all credibality is lost. I guess there are some naive people out there but most people will see right through this dribble.