Got Recession? Come on Down!

In a Pinch, Advertisers See A Marketing Opportunity

For months, advertisers seemed to ignore the R-word. Rhymes-with-shmecession? Heavens, no. The economy is just great, thanks. Now buy another iPhone. Charge it.

But then Bear Stearns happened. Then the Dow happened. Then the bailout happened. Then the average American consumer began to realize that something was seriously wrong. And then advertisers and marketers and publicists seemed to realize that they could not tap-dance any longer and began to acknowledge that which is rarely acknowledged in a profession built on optimism.

It's time to sell the recession.

"There are lots of ways to save, but only one way to savor," reads a current ad for Campbell's.

Recession soup!

(Campbell's was, incidentally, the only stock on the S&P 500 Index not to drop in the precipitous plummet of Sept. 29.)

"Looking for a way to lose 777 that won't tap out your IRA?" asks the press release for a new series of workout DVDs.

Recession at-home gym!

It's easy -- tack an economic rationale onto any noun or service, and you've created for your customer a whole new reason to buy. "Look younger to save your careers," e-mails the spokeswoman for some doctor in Los Angeles. "Plastic surgery is the hero of middle-aged bankers."

Recession facelifts!

It works as well for the commonplace as it does for the ridiculous. Take milk, which, in the course of its marketed life has been through enough reinventions to qualify as the Madonna of the food and beverage industry.

It's been touted as the perfect complement to the organic lifestyle, the busy lifestyle, the fitness-freak lifestyle. For the past five years, milk's target audience has been dieting women, a campaign that was still working until Wall Street suddenly wasn't, and the milk men decided it was time for a new plan: