Lesley Pratt was a freakin’ evil advertising genius.
In his quest to sell soap, he’d turned the shock value of bombing smurfs into a marketer’s wet dream.
He’d even coined a term for the new form of advertising: aggressive suasion. (Though they were known as “smurf-cutters” to the Madison Avenue crowd.)
And in the course of doing so, systematically terrorized an entire generations of children.
A smattering of lead-lines shows how ruthless some of his campaigns could be:
- Buy Sugar Smacks (or Barney Gets a Visit from the Vivisectionist, just like Baby Bop)
- Do you want TinkiWinki to die too? Then use Flogg Brand Soap Flakes.
- Only Mommy can save SpongeBob SquarePants from Hanibal Lector — Tell Her to Buy Spangles Spaghetti!
Based on this (real) ad: