Dove strikes heroic rugby pose – but rewriting Kipling is a bit ‘Iffy’ though

Unilever’s Dove has explored the essence of womanhood to some effect in recent years and now it’s turned its attention to blokes, in a new rugby-themed campaign for Dove Men+Care.

Rugby? Dove?

The ads, by FastrackContent (which is a new one on me, what happened to Ogilvy?) feature various tough-looking rugby players, including Lions captain Sam Warburton, intoning a rugby spin on Kipling’s rather over-used patriotic poem ‘If.’

Did I hear one of them say he’d help out an opponent suffering from cramp? Pull the other one – hard.

Anyway, it’s an interesting effort. Created by girls (Fiona and Sophie Clark with director Liz Dolan) for boys.

I guess this is one of the last Dove pieces signed off by former Unilever Personal Care supremo Dave Lewis before he entered the vale of tears that is Tesco. Will it bring a tear to Dave’s eye as he watches it?