Procter & Gamble Co., Maureen & Barbara
This ad features a couple of extremely burly, bearded men dressed as housewives in a studio kitchen. They are pretending to be women in a very unconvincing way.
Narration introduced the two: "This is Maureen. This is Barbara. They're tough. These are tough stains."
In the middle of the kitchen is a cooker with two similar bolognese spills.
"This is Bounty," the narrator says, and Maureen is handed a roll of Bounty. "This isn't," he says. Barbara is handed a roll of the competitor's towel.
Maureen takes a sheet of Bounty and wets it under the tap, then slowly wrings it out.
Maureen rubs the Bounty over the stain on her side of the hob. It easily removes it, and even with Maureen's heavy handed motions, stays intact.
Barbara is handed a roll of the traditional kitchen towel. She tears off a sheet of her competitive paper towel and copies Maureen by wetting it under the tap. She tries wringing it out but experiences more difficulty in doing this than Maureen.
Barabara attempts to clean the bolognaise stain off her side of the hob. Some of the stain is removed, but by then the inferior brand has begun to desintegrate in her big hands. She gives up.
To further prove Bounty's strengths, Maureen takes another Bounty towel and she absorbs the watery residue AND the pulp that was Barbara's towel, leaving a gleaming hob.
The end sequence shows a sheet of Bounty held up vertically with its bottom in a small puddle of water. The water soaks up the sheet to reveal the Bounty logo as a watermark.
Final narration says, "Bounty. Have you tried it wet yet?"
According to the web site for the Arnold Communications-affiliated ad agency, Partners BDDH, "we used a pair of tough housewives (hairy blokes in frocks). UK market share doubled to nearly 20% in a year, taking Bounty to market leadership. Tracking now indicates that Bounty is clearly recognised as the superior performing brand in the category."