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Ad campaign with Polish plumber (Piotr Adamski) in France |
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Sunday, 03 July 2005 |
Successful ad campaign with Polish plumber as a main characterLess
than one month ago the Polish plumber was just a mythical figure who
wanted to steal jobs in France. Today, thanks to a successful
advertising campaign, the same plumber encourages the French to visit
Poland.
Everything began during the debate over the European Union
constitution. The opponents of the project were using the figure of a
Polish plumber as an argument against opening the French labor market
for citizens from new Union members, who joined the EU in May 2004. The
new countries had to agree to a 7-year-long transition period in which
their access to older Member States' labor markets, among which was
France, would be very limited.
 The
French government has to deal with huge unemployment problem, which has
recently increased to 10 percent. Eurosceptics blame this situation not
only on the government's interior policy, but also workers from the
enlarged Union, despite the fact that among the 6000 plumbers working
in France there are only 150 from Poland and there is demand for many
more.
After the defeat of the
referendum, the Polish Tourism Bureau decided to use the main symbol of
the European debate for its own aim. They released an amusing poster
with a handsome blond model carrying pipes and plumbers tools in his
hands saying: "I'm staying in Poland. Lots of you should come."
"With
all the bad publicity about the ‘Polish plumber' we thought why not
have a sense of humour and make him work for us?" - said Krzysztof
Turowski, the creator of an ad on the bureau's Web site, in the
interview for "The New York Times". - We picked someone handsome and
clean with a sexy look in his eyes to get the French to come to our
beautiful country".
The
model from the poster, Piotr Adamski, visited France a few days ago,
greeted at the airport by - mainly female - French and American
journalists. He went there to promote Poland by sitting for the
photographers as his main duty. And even if the real plumber does not
usually look like the model from the ad, the Polish campaign was very
successful. Mr. Zieba, a Polish plumber working in France for years
told "The New York Times" (referring to the handsome model): "He looks
like something out of an X-rated fantasy film about women who are
waiting for the plumber to arrive." Nevertheless, the Polish Tourist
Bureau's ad is an excellent example of how to convert a defeat into
success and change people's prejudiced attitudes.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 03 September 2006 )
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