9037: Summer’s Eve Needs A Thorough Cleaning.

Check out the comments being left at YouTube for the Summer’s Eve “Hail to the V” commercials targeting Blacks, Latinas and Whites. Folks are offended about everything from racism to obscenity to stupidity—and rightfully so.

When the public felt insulted over a 2010 promotion stating that douching could help women climb the corporate ladder, Summer’s Eve brand manager Angela Bryant wrote, “I would like to first of all apologize if this ad in anyway has offended anyone. … We want you to know that Fleet Laboratories and the Summer’s Eve brand have the utmost respect for women.” Um, the “Hail to the V” campaign demonstrates respect for women in the classic Mad Men style. Based on the YouTube threads, Bryant better fire up her laptop and start drafting more apologies pronto.

As MultiCultClassics opined upon initially spotting Carlton the Cat last month, the entire campaign appears to show how an advertising agency took advantage of a clueless client desperately seeking to gain credibility and hipness. Reinventing a brand is one thing. The Richards Group is raping a brand—and the shop is probably being paid handsomely to do it.