The first ad I saw pictured a World War II soldier in the middle of battle, talking through time to his great grand son. Some of the great lines are: "Listen hashtag" and "Stop LOLing everything."
The tag line for the campaign is also clever, IMO. "Shave like a man." As an example, in the WW2 ad, the great grandfather says: "If you're not going to fight like a man, at least shave like one."
The second ad wasn't quite as strong, but the third one redeemed itself. This time it's set in the 1920s and features a baseball player. This time the player talks about pitching 17 innings while the current day guy needed a nap after watching a game.
While there's a lot to like in these ads, I think the main part that resonates is that old "I used to walk up hill to school both ways in the dark with snow up to my waist." You know, the old generation had it so much tougher than the current day.
This, BTW, is also being used in the AT&T commercials where the slightly older kids are talking about how hard they had it and how much easier their younger siblings have it now. I think this is a very effective campaign, too.
Back to the Barbasol, though. The other part that's clever is how the writers take current day things, like Twitter or channel surfing and use it as contrast. These ads are entertaining and amusing and they have me looking forward to the next in the series.
