TVSquad

The makers of a deodorant have paid Fox TV an undisclosed amount of money to acquire the licensing rights to create 24-themed content on a new web site and in a series of TV ads in order to promote their product.

The Unilever Company, which produces Degree deodorant, will run original online material and TV ads following the exploits of a 24-like CTU rookie, Jason Blaine, a Navy Seal sniper who, the web site says, "can carry four lattes without spilling a drop."

When you go to the "CTU rookie" site, you can watch the first "chapter" in the life of newbie agent Jason, complete with a ticking 24 clock, music similar to what you hear when Jack Bauer is huntin' nukes and a CTU office setting. What is different about the content is that the rookie is sent to fetch coffee rather than meet with "good" and "bad" terrorists. While the first chapter doesn't show Jason doing anything more than making sure an old lady and her dog don't get run down by a speeding vehicle, it does show him getting ready to thwart a would-be robbery, even though he doesn't have a gun.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't quite understand this ad campaign. Sure, the first "chapter" is pretty amusing, as is the tagline, "Every great CTU agent has to start somewhere." But how does Unilever think this is going to sell deodorant? Surely they'd sell more if they ran an ad that said something like, "Jack Bauer wears Degree. Do you ever see him sweat?"