Undies Create 'Oeufs Masculin à La Française'

Should you be attacked by a smiling, impeccably retro-styled woman with a hammer, you need these French briefs. This viral ad for men's underwear by Le Slip Francais is certainly attention -- or rather, nut -- grabbing. Particularly in when you compare it to the sexed-up advertising of, say, Armani and CK, appealing as they do to male sensuality and desirability, not to mention open-legged, under-dressed male vulnerability.

But I'm not sure this message will sell many briefs to men who aren't very heavily into CBT.

Though perhaps the target audience (as my advertising friend Honourable Husband pointed out elsewhere) for this oeuf-hammering is actually women -- who are looking for an Christmas present for a male partner.

If so, I would say that the target female buyer is one that feels somewhat ambivalent about their man.

Whatever this ad for designer castration anxiety's merits, I think the art direction is delicious. Note how the lamp-shades, the stereo-gram top and the hammer-wielding lady's nail varnish all match.

It's the details that matter when you're making "oeufs" splatter.