We all know Benefit as one of the more fun brands in the business - quirky packaging and the odd tongue-in-cheek punchline are all part of their appeal, but their latest marketing offering has fallen a little flat here at GTG HQ.
No doubt designed to make us blush a little and laugh a lot, Benefit has this time recruited some male, er, 'celebrities' such as Jersey Shore's Vinny Guadagnino to promote the success of their They're Real mascara.
Named 'Real Men Don't Fake It', the short film features an embarrassingly bad soundtrack, close ups of the men's bulging packages and young girls who look powerless to resist drooling.
Before you start to wonder how on earth this relates to mascara, here's the best (read: worst) bit - the men go to pull something out of their pants and yes, it's the infamous They're Real mascara. Insert laughter here.
The video doesn't seem to have come from the UK branch of the beloved brand - evident by the style of the advert alone - but of course it's made its way across the pond just to make sure it really hammers the message home. We think what they're trying to say is that even if something looks fake, it can in fact be real. Just like our lashes when we use their mascara, right? Right.
Our biggest problem with the cringeworthy film is the way the women are portrayed - yes, it's the men being objectified (not that that is any better) but still it's the girls who look like they are practically foaming at the mouth at the prospect of seeing a man's bits. The part where they then catch the mascaras out of the men's pants is enough to send us over the edge, and not in the way Benefit had hoped.
Plus, every girl knows pumping a mascara tube like that dries it out. If they wanted to be flirty, fun and subtly crude, perhaps that's the message they should have led with...
Watch the video above (you might want headphones if you're in a public place) and see for yourself...