Pledge Allergen Glass Box . . . Yea? No.

The latest Pledge with “Allergen Trappers” commercial from SC Johnson has been bothering me. At first glance, it is different, opening with the lady trapped in a box; a suitable metaphor for the product benefit. It’s simple, yet clear and it actually presents compelling story with a point of difference for a rather ubiquitous, useful but uninspiring product. Contrary to my wife’s opinion, I have done some dusting in my day, and it seems to me that all dusting products do a pretty good job of getting rid of dust because you basically just wipe it away. Of course, shaking the dusting cloth outside is always a good idea. But where do they come up with this figure of “trapping 84% of allergens in dust.” How does one measure allergens in dust to that degree of certainty?

But that’s not my core issue with this spot. It’s really a matter of language. I’m no William Safire, but I am certain he would take issue with the following script:

V.O. Traps up to 84% of Allergen in dust.

Woman: 84%? That’s. . .

V.O. . . . nothing to sneeze at.

Woman: Yea, No, That’s great.

It’s this phrase: Yea, No. That’s no oxymoron. That’s colloquial, or conversational. Some might even say it’s improperly informal. And what does she mean? Yes or no? Choose one or the other. How can you use both of these words in the same breath?

I have spoken like this for years, and have been corrected by my wife for years for saying “yea, no” when a simple “yes” followed by a complete sentence of confirmation would be more appropriate. In this case, “yes, your right that trapping 84% of dust allergens in nothing to sneeze at.” Of course, that needs to be compressed in this story given the 30 second time constraint of the television commercial unit.

“Yea, no” must be now part of American vernacular if it’s made its way into a Pledge commercial. It is used to punctuate a different type of yes response: “yes, I agree with you that whatever you just said is not a good thing.”

And that’s not to be confused with “yea, I know” or “ya know.”