• by Fern Siegel , August 16, 2024

The auto-car industry is notorious for overcharging women, as well as treating them dismissively. Midas offers an alternative. Its "Don't Put Up With B. S." campaign insists no one should endure bad service.

In the “Carsplaining Carl” and “Just Wait Walter” spots, auto mechanics say idiot comments, such as: “You know your car needs oil to run right?” But a self-assured customer understands she has the power to say “no” to lousy treatment.

Creative runs across the U.S. and Canada on TV, OOH, social and digital channels.

The cross-platform creative from BarkleyOKRP uses humor and data to encourage customers to demand change. The agency conducted research among 2,000 men and women and found women are twice as likely to feel intimidated during car-care visit and 2x more likely to feel exploited.

In fact, over half of the participants complained of bad service and the vast majority, 90%, feel overcharged and two-thirds feel mistreated.

“When women told us that auto-care mechanics rolled their eyes at them or made them feel like they didn’t know anything about their vehicles, we knew the Midas difference was worth celebrating,” said Phoebe Hennessy, vice president, marketing at Midas. “The insights we uncovered about real consumer pain points gave us the opportunity to showcase the Midas difference and our focus on great service.”

BarkleyOKRP is one of the largest full-service independent agencies in the U.S. Clients include Planet Fitness, Corona Premier, AMC Theaters and Burger King.