When people think of cellophane, there are many things that come to their mind before children. It is used to wrap oddly shaped gift that don’t fit in boxes or wrapping paper, not babies. DuPont cellophane came out with a series of ads in the 1950s that portrayed babies and young children wrapped in their cellophane, stating that “you see so many good things in DuPont cellophane.”

While parents do tend to think that their children are “good,” there is no way to comprehend why they would be better off wrapped in plastic. No matter how parents felt about their kids, wrapping them in cellophane is child abuse. Yes, the babies in the ads look happy and adorable, but this is also an illustration, not a live picture. Why isn’t it a live picture? Most likely because they couldn’t get a family to let the ad makers wrap their kids in actual cellophane.Even on the off chance that they did find someone willing to endanger their child like that, I am sure that the family and the company would get sued for an arm and a leg.

Another aspect of the ad that doesn’t really do its job is the fact that the company chose to use the word “good.” Good? There are so many more words that could capture the attention of your consumers better, or be used to describe a baby wrapped in cellophane (again, not moral, but as a selling point, most parents describe their kids better than ‘good’!)  Obviously the company thought that the rest of their ad would make people buy their cellophane, so why not think about the words they are reading, too? In order to be effective, the ad has to be a whole idea rather than a controversial picture and some mediocre words.

The one idea in the ad that I do understand is the small words at the bottom, stating “You see the good things you buy… no guesswork. They come fresh, stay fresh longer – less waste. And cellophane keeps them extra clean and sanitary.” Brand new, clear cellophane right off of the roll does give a clean and fresh look, which can also be associated with newborn babies. The idea is right their in the palm of the creators’ hands, they just decided to take it in the wrong directions by actually wrapping the babies in the dangerous plastic. Overall, if you tear apart the ad, you can find the intended message. Even so, the ad is meant to be easily understood and widely accepted at first glance… and at first glance, it is still just babies wrapped in cellophane.