‘Proper bants’ and a ‘second family’? We’d rather work from home thanks, Dettol

For those millions of us still working from home, here’s what you are missing: the latest instalment in Dettol’s “Keep Protecting” campaign, which looks like it was written by a government minister, not an advertising copywriter.

Is this what it’s like to work at McCann London? A place for “proper bants” with your “second family,” where people wear ties, surrounded by plastic plants, walking on weird carpets, bombarded by buzzwords? At least you can sneak off early for a cheeky afternoon in the sun.

Dettol is offering commuters an old-fashioned, sentimental take on office life, and the back-to-school rendition of the campaign is much the same, wallowing in nostalgia about “jumpers for goalposts”and “rude words on calculators.”

It’s another tired old take on the “Choose Life” manifesto from Trainspotting, also used by Waitrose in the summer. The ickiness of Dettol’s ads might make you more likely to reach for the sanitiser, though.

Thanks to Alegria Adedeji of Hue Agency (@helloalegria) for the spot.