The Southern Nevada Water Authority is promoting fall watering restrictions with another set of humorous commercials, only instead of the groin-kick to a water waster by an elderly lady, the agency went for the seductiveness of conservation, insisting: “There’s nothing sexier.”
But rather than six-pack abs and perfect hair, SNWA goes for a middle-aged man with a comb-over, clad in shorts, socks and sandals and a robe opened to expose his hairy beer belly. In spite of these “flaws” he’s completely lusted after by stroller-pushing Summerlin moms hot for his water-saving prowess (much like the sister commercial’s too-tan granny ogled by garbage men for hers).
While it likely won’t offend sensitive viewers in the way that groin kick/“Don’t make us ask you again” did, SNWA might have been more convincing had it gone with a Carl’s Jr. approach (ridiculously sexy woman) to reach the apathetic type through the kind of ridiculously ignoble manipulation that effective advertising is known for.
If people truly thought saving water was cool and sexy, we’d be lawn-minimal and have covers on our backyard pools, sensitive to the drought and the idea that we shouldn’t be wasteful. But maybe it’s the mantra rippling from the Strip: responsibility is something that happens elsewhere, never in Vegas. Americans love abundance. Frugality is too depressing in a more-is-more mind-set.
That we’ve reduced water use in the midst of wild growth—a decrease of 32 billion gallons during an addition of more than 500,000 residents—shows that something’s working, but we still have that community pride problem. Maybe we need sexy to sell that, too. Imagine the billboards.
