Clever, But Not Urgent Enough

Mold spores may be found in carpets, walls, insulation, ceiling tiles, tile and grout flooring, around windows, in air-conditioning systems, near leaky pipes, doors, even in ice makers — just about anywhere that's exposed to moisture for a prolonged period of time.

Danger levels occur when the mold infestation covers an area of roughly 2 square feet, according to some experts.

In addition, the concern grows if the mold has infested components such as insulation, drywall or carpet.

Experts advise against trying to “scrape” the mold off walls and other surfaces. This increases the chances that toxin-filled spores will become airborne, harm building occupants or even settle in a new area. The goal is to always keep the mold cleanup operation confined to the problem area as much as possible.

Cleaning and removing mold from carpets can be difficult. The source of the problem must be determined. For instance, there may be moisture coming up from under the carpets or they may have been improperly cleaned with too much water.

FREE MOLD PREVENTION CHECKLIST

Our product, Concrobium Mold Control, can be used to treat and prevent mold in problem areas without bleach or harmful chemicals. But this is just one step you can take to mold-proof your home. Log on to print out our 10-point mold prevention checklist. The Web site address followed.

To add pictorial interest (which I like as reinforcement, believe it or not), I kept the moldy slice of bread, but as a subordinate element.

At the bottom of the original ad, in truly too-tiny type, is “where to buy” information. I felt this deserved more prominence, since many people might not quite know where to look. So I bumped this up into larger, bolder, highly noticeable type, and I made the photo of the product larger for better brand impression.

Is my makeover an improvement? It may not be quite as slick an ad, but I'll bet it would attract more Web site visitors and sell more Mold Control.

Ad After

Find more Makeover Maven columns at http://directmag.com/opinions-columnists/makeovermaven/.

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THOMAS L. COLLINS (thomas.l.collins@verizon.net) has been a direct marketing copywriter, ad maker, agency creative director and co-author of four books on marketing. He is currently an independent creative and marketing consultant based in Portland, OR.