Sanitary-pad ad could have been great

Being a somewhat sarcastic and cynical creature, Ad Nut has a soft spot for ads that make fun of the hackneyed conventions of adland. And the above spot for Libresse, by BBDO Malaysia, gets off to a good start. 'Tight white pants scene'? Genius. Laughing gas? Good one! You've got the ingredients for a funny little satirical take there. 

Unfortunately, someone thought the ad needed an exasperated character to break the 'fourth wall' and over-explain the jokes while talking about product benefits

As someone* once famously said:

Explaining a joke is like dissecting a frog. You understand it better, but the frog dies in the process.

In the end, we have a few good moments buried within an annoying whole, as the too-smart, too-snarky narrator obnoxiously inserts herself into the action and mugs for the camera. The whole thing smells like a good concept that got perverted by committee. Too bad. 

For an example of how to do 'meta' better, please see "Toyota turns the traditional car ad on its head for Vitz Hybrid".

* The quote above is a punched-up version of a statement written by E.B. White but often misattributed to Mark Twain. White actually wrote: "Humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind." 

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