From Shawn, a reader who works in a hospital:

"I guess this commercial is supposed to be funny somehow--these men are in the Emergency Room with horrible injuries because they bought their wives the wrong gift for Christmas."

The UK commercial is from 2005. The company's press release describing it--"LX Direct knows what women want"--is below.

To watch, click here or see below.

Press Release: LX Direct knows what women want
Release Date: 20 December 2005
Home shopping retailer launches innovative Christmas viral campaign

Home shopping retailer LX Direct, launched a Christmas e-mail campaign with a difference this week, surveying 5,000 of their customers to uncover 'What Women Won't Want For Christmas' this year. Designed to be a guide for the hapless blokes of Britain - the campaign was the gift guide equivalent of 'What Not To Wear'.

The viral email campaign centred on a short film featuring a group of sorry looking men in a hospital casualty department at Christmas who had all evidently bought inappropriate gifts for their partners and were now nursing slapstick minor injuries. One man has a stiletto lodged in his skull and another has a vacuum cleaner hose stuck in a rather unfortunate place! After watching the clip, LX Direct female customers were then invited to enter the festive survey. What gifts did they really not want to see under the tree on Christmas morning?

The survey results, contributed to by over 5000 women and counting, were then compiled - resulting in the "Official What Women Won't Want For Christmas Top 10." The results were both curious and amusing...

The present women really won't want to find under the tree this festive season is a trustworthy ironing board. Home appliances topped the poll as the most unpopular gift to receive at Christmas with car related devices following closely behind. The full top 10 is here:

Offensive Present: % Votes Against
1. Ironing Board 72%
2. Jump Leads 65%
3. Football Tickets 64%
4. Cheap Tacky Underwear 61%
5. Slimming Club Membership 55%
6. Steering Wheel Lock 45%
7. Rolling Pin 32%
8. Deep Fat Fryer 30%
9. Clothes that are too big 29%
10. Vacuum Cleaner 28%

The e-mail campaign was created in conjunction with Manchester Agency BJL. The filming was executed by Manchester production house The Gate.

Michael Duffy, Head of Online at LX Direct said, "LX Direct enjoys e-mail open rates of over one third and customers have been responding well to this form of marketing - despite us having to compete in a world of spam and crammed Inboxes. We wanted to investigate if they would respond to a viral campaign that was a bit more off-the-wall than normal; certainly a departure for a home shopping retailer. With all the deluge of Christmas marketing out there, we realised we needed to do something different to stand out from the crowd.

"The results have been very encouraging - especially as the positive customer feedback to the film and the survey meant we clearly captured a space in our customer's minds during this crucial trading period."

This entry was posted on Monday, December 24th, 2007 at 12:57 am and is filed under Domestic Violence/DV System, Advertising, TV, Movies & Gender. You can trackback from your own site.