Unfortunately it has nothing to do with the past. Interesting visual, but the line is quite lame.

Apparently the product is called “Tide-Stain” in China. The line reads, “To rid stubborn stain, use Tide Stain”.

What a stupid ass line.. I thought for sure it was going to say something simple like… “Let stains live in the past.”

I think it reads: “Don’t rub muddy fossils on your shirt.”

@joseph Do you read or understand Chinese? Your critique of the “stupid ass line” based on translated text is superficial and worst showed your ignorance of the target audience of the ads — that is those who can actually read and appreciate the nuances of Chinese.

In Chinese, the two halves of the sentences are three words each. And they rhyme quite well like poetry.

I don’t work for Leo Burnett but I do have problems when I see critiques made without basic understanding nor knowledge.

Best Regards,
Kempton

Remove old stains with tide.

To echo Kempton’s comments, a better translation in English may be:

“Tide” should be called “Discard/Eliminate Stain” in Chinese literally. And the word “Tide” rhymes perfectlly well with “Discard/Eliminate” （汰）in Chinese as a single syllable. As a brand name, the translation is marvellous. Both meaning and its context in an entirely different culture have been taken care.

The line is very well crafted because it became
Rid tough stain, Use “Tide Stain”

And the word “tough” is equivalent to “very difficult to remove”, just like ancient things in the past which is sometimes too stubborn.

I don’t know how many of you speak Chinese but, personally speaking I don’t. Nevertheless, although it is a quite witty ad I can’t really say that it is an ad that will work and be understood by the specific audience.
Now, if it was for the American public then yes, I could say that they would have understood it because many fossils have been found in the US; more that what might have been found in China.

Cheers

The copy is easy to remember. I think this is a good work.