Disney cartoons have been used to sell girls all kinds of drivel over the years: the ideal of an unobtainably small waist, the idea that kissing frogs is a good idea, also thousands of tonnes of plastic sparkly shit. Now, Triumph’s really weird new campaign has “borrowed” a few of these ideas, like a less sex-pesty Robin Thicke to Disney’s Marvin Gaye.
In it, an animated version of pants model Hannah Ferguson rushes around a shop declaring: “I’m telling you … one day I’m going to find The One!” Oh great, you’re thinking, another cartoon setting up that unrealistic idea that every girl has to wait around for Prince Charming to sweep her off her feet and rescue her. Nope. Some clever ad exec has finally realised that buying a comfortable bra is a bigger task than finding a bloke – and it’s a right song and dance.
In this animated world, gone are the hours of sweaty frustration, struggling with the “only six items at once” rule in the lingerie department’s smelly changing rooms. Instead, Triumph has re-imagined underwear shopping as a Disney-style musical, complete with a fairy godmother, a crown-wearing frog and no awkward, impatient boyfriends sitting on that little stool outside the changing rooms, periodically sighing: “Are you done yet? Should I just … wait in the pub?”
But then this wonderful illusion is shattered. “I want to find The One/ The One that makes me feel just right/ The One that clings to me all night,” sings Hannah. You’re wearing your lingerie all night, mate? Anyone who thinks it’s comfortable to sleep in an underwired bra is clearly living in a fairytale.
