"Granny Got Pants"

13 September 2019

1 min 36s

Sensible is the new sexy

Back in the day as a young student, Mrs David's first landlady swore by Sloggi pants. A very respectable woman in her 60s - an admiral's widow with a cut-glass accent - she would sort out the laundry and mutter disparagingly at the thousand-wash grey knickers with the perished elastic that nestled in the basket next to her own enduring, unfading, and voluminous undies.

"I couldn't put up with the rubbish you wear," she'd say purse-lipped, folding ironing into piles. "I won't wear anything but Sloggi. You barely know you've got anything on."

This conflicting concept - big knickers that felt like no knickers - was something Mrs D didn't need to know about her landlady; and for decades afterwards she associated the brand with a particular type of weird prissiness.

Times have changed. And Sloggi's own time has well and truly arrived... thanks to MullenLowe, who observed that as the diversity of female body shapes and ages is now being embraced, women are far more prepared to put comfort and ease ahead of eroticism.

To that end, MullenLowe asked 56-year old Colette Zacca to front a music promo endorsing Sloggi. You may already recognise her - she's the gran who went viral after being filmed busting some moves at the Notting Hill Carnival.

Blinged up to the hilt, she is a natural; giving it her flamboyant all as she performs 'Granny Got Pants' - a snappily brilliant version of 'Baby Got Back', the 1992 Sir Mix-A-Lot hit.

Lines such as 'I like big pants and I cannot lie', and "You gotta go big or go home" are delivered with an attitude you wouldn't expect from someone who's had a double hip replacement - but there she is; strutting around in waist-high knickers with a 90s boombox on her shoulder... and it's truly joyous.

Mrs David is an instant convert. Kudos to the female creative team, Charlotte Robbins and Nina Griffiths, who willed this into being. They've turned a brand with all the allure of a cheap funeral plan into one that is unapologetically womanly and strong and funny. Sensible is the new sexy!

UK

Lingerie