Dannon Light & Fit Yogurt - Terrible Ad of the Week

Hello, readers. This week's Terrible Ad of the Week is truly something special. It comes to us from Dannon Light and Fit Yogurt, which, as we will see, is yogurt geared directly towards the Sex & the City crowd. You've probably seen this ad or one of its inbred, spawn-of-darkest-hell cousins on TV in the last couple years, but here it is just in case:

Our loyal reader JamFla actually submitted this ad as a TRAOTM submission, but when I saw it, I knew we were dealing with something truly abominable. You see, readers, I may be the world's foremost expert in advertising and marketing, but in the ways of women, I'm probably only among the top 10-15 experts in the world - hardly something to brag about. So, this week, I've called in some help from my female friends to help me break down this terrible ad. That's right, readers, it's the first ever Advertisements Explained Reader Focus Group!

Our Focus Group members are all avid Sex and the City watchers and yogurt enthusiasts, so they can provide us with piercing insights into the inner working of this ad. Here is our panel of experts:

I tried to color-code their responses below, but Blogger is being a real B.

Earlier this week, I asked each panel member to view the ad (they signed waivers first, obviously) then asked them a series of questions about the ad. In today's entry, we'll get to know our panelists and their experiences with yogurt, and tomorrow we'll delve into their feelings about the ad itself. Enjoy the first half of the interview below, and be sure to check back tomorrow for Part Two!

Editor's note - Part Two is now available here.

Hi, panelists. Thanks for joining us.

JamFla - Good to be here.

AJO - Thanks for having us.

KT - Hi, Dan.

Let's get started. What do you talk about with your friends when you have yogurt parties?

JamFla -

Oh you know, the usual – the exhausting symptoms of PMS, juggling work with a booked social calendar, George Clooney, Jennifer Wiener books, which shoe tones the best (Sketcher, for the record), cosmopolitans, arranging a girls "carb night in" where we watch Katherine Heigl RomComs and drink Moscato di Asti, a man's inability to commit (or put the toilet seat down! LOL), wax jobs that didn't go well, Yaz birth control.

AJO -

My friends and I talk about how amazingly good the yogurt is of course! Also about clothes, make up, and boys (giggle giggle). We talk about chocolate, swimsuit season and how fat we think we are. Actually I think this a trick question; I don't eat yogurt with my friends, I eat it alone at work at my desk while reading my Gmail....

KT -

How saving 20 calories by making the right yogurt choice really saves the entire day (and leaves plenty more calories for the bottles of wine we'll consume later that night in order to forget how horrible our lives really are.)

Please describe how eating yogurt with your friends makes you feel (for example: finding clothes that fit good, burning this dress good, etc.):

KT -

When I eat yogurt with my friends and cheers the yogurt cups it reminds me that the day my clothes fit well has long since passed and the only thing I'll be doing for the next 40 years is regretting all the full fat yogurt cups I ate in my teens and twenties. Those extra 20 calories per morning yogurt cup really f-ed me over.

JamFla -

I think eating low-cal yogurt with my girlfriends gives us a strong connection on both an emotional and physical level – I mean – it's almost like being on the same menses cycle! We all love yogurt, we all love being thin, we all love getting attention in public when we laugh, and we definitely all love something low-cal!

AJO -

Binging on Chocolate during a PMS Rage Good! Fitting my fat ass into Spanx good! Watching a marathon of the Big C followed by a marathon of Private Practice good! Naming my boyfriend pillow after McDreamy good! Only having to shave my legs once a month good! Realizing I am just as fabulous as Carrie Bradshaw good! Being a good lady driver good!

Well, there you have it. Check back tomorrow for Part Two of our exciting focus group! Dannon Light and Fit will get torn to shreds, just like your insides after eating Dannon Light and Fit!

Continue to Part Two!