Mr Nice GuyPerfume Advertisements are So Hip (or:how music makes you buy things)
January 6th 2009 04:47
In the past couple of years, perfume advertisements have been employing hot young actresses to float around in a pretty dress whilst a devestatingly hip song of the time plays in the background. Gone are the days where a bottle of Chanel No5 was in the middle of a poster for you, reminding you to buy a bottle for your aunt for christmas. Now we have Eva Green swinging from a rope
I don't even like the smell of Midnight Poison (it's too musky, it makes me think of maybe some cougar-esque woman who may have been great in the 80's but is now...not so much) but everytime 'Space Dementia' by Muse plays, i imagine myself swinging around in a big blue dress, perfume bottle clasped firmly in my hand. I've almost bought the actual perfume several times, before remembering i hate the scent itself.
The power of advertising! (or, maybe, i'm a sucker for a good campaign)
But apart from perfume, all the 'cool' brands have been using indie music to get a whole new target audience (we're looking at you, apple!) i liked Wolfmother's 'Love Train' one, because it wormed out my secret love of psychedelica.
The problem with these is that when a properly famous song/artist is used, they are'nt mere black shadows dancing in front of colours, as seen with U2 and Paul McCartney. The 'hey everyone is an equal shadow, dancing in a bizzarrely enthusiastic manner' is completely ruined. sigh.
But then again, if a more famous artist is used, the internet is crammed with self-righteous alternatives scowling at the fact that they had 'sold out' to the maaaan. Case in point: Jack White's Coke ad. Come on guys! The colours of Coke are red, black and white. It's pretty much the man himself, in liquid form. Plus, aesthetic reasons aside, if i wrote a song and it got used for an ad, i'd be psyched about the coverage and cash, woohoo!
This also happened with Sophia Coppola's 'Miss Dior Cherie' (yes, more perfume ads! i love them) 'ahh,' everyone thought, 'Sophia Coppola, this is going to be a pretty girl with soft hair in hazy focus doing Parisian things, oh look, there are those damn macaroons everyone orgasms over (not literally, of course. come on guys) oh look more cupcakes (why are cupcakes so in right now? they are a classic baked good, meant to be enjoyed forever. although i'm actually just angry that all hipster scum have been getting cupcake tattoos, as i have one and i'm now worried people are going to think i'm trying to be kikki kannibal or something. ugh, what a douche). oh ballooons. Oh look, more pastel colour schemes' and so on. But you know what? I had that exact same attitude, right down to the macaroons...god, i hate macaroons, but i was halfway through that thought process when all of a sudden THIS WAS THE BEST ADVERTISEMENT EVER! Why wasn't i cycling around Paris? (a. i can't cycle b. i'm in sydney) Why didn't i have cakes out the wazoo, to eat in whimsical sunglasses? It does help that this perfume is The Shit and i've been angling for it as a birthday present. yum.
And then there's the massive song tie-in's, a la Converse with Santogold, Pharrell and Julian Casablancas. On a related topic, who doesn't love Pharrell? I haven't met a single person who won't openly admit to shaking their groove thang when N.E.R.D is on. Brilliant. I love that sort of cohesion! Anyway, this was released as a song, and advertisement as part of the 100 years of converse. But they don't really have to try, do they, converse? i have myriad pairs scattered around my house, and you know i'm dying or the kurt cobain ones.
I love that we learnt more about the brand during this campaign. The idea that the shoe had been going for a century tickled my fancy, i loved thinking of badass flappers running around a baskteball court in cons before slipping on their dresses to Charleston through the night. I mean, i know that didn't happen, but give me my fake memories!
If you couldn't tell already, i'm a huge fan of advertising. where would we be without trying to remember jingles, or finding out what song is off that ad? It's what fills the days.
The power of advertising! (or, maybe, i'm a sucker for a good campaign)
But apart from perfume, all the 'cool' brands have been using indie music to get a whole new target audience (we're looking at you, apple!) i liked Wolfmother's 'Love Train' one, because it wormed out my secret love of psychedelica.
But then again, if a more famous artist is used, the internet is crammed with self-righteous alternatives scowling at the fact that they had 'sold out' to the maaaan. Case in point: Jack White's Coke ad. Come on guys! The colours of Coke are red, black and white. It's pretty much the man himself, in liquid form. Plus, aesthetic reasons aside, if i wrote a song and it got used for an ad, i'd be psyched about the coverage and cash, woohoo!
This also happened with Sophia Coppola's 'Miss Dior Cherie' (yes, more perfume ads! i love them) 'ahh,' everyone thought, 'Sophia Coppola, this is going to be a pretty girl with soft hair in hazy focus doing Parisian things, oh look, there are those damn macaroons everyone orgasms over (not literally, of course. come on guys) oh look more cupcakes (why are cupcakes so in right now? they are a classic baked good, meant to be enjoyed forever. although i'm actually just angry that all hipster scum have been getting cupcake tattoos, as i have one and i'm now worried people are going to think i'm trying to be kikki kannibal or something. ugh, what a douche). oh ballooons. Oh look, more pastel colour schemes' and so on. But you know what? I had that exact same attitude, right down to the macaroons...god, i hate macaroons, but i was halfway through that thought process when all of a sudden THIS WAS THE BEST ADVERTISEMENT EVER! Why wasn't i cycling around Paris? (a. i can't cycle b. i'm in sydney) Why didn't i have cakes out the wazoo, to eat in whimsical sunglasses? It does help that this perfume is The Shit and i've been angling for it as a birthday present. yum.
And then there's the massive song tie-in's, a la Converse with Santogold, Pharrell and Julian Casablancas. On a related topic, who doesn't love Pharrell? I haven't met a single person who won't openly admit to shaking their groove thang when N.E.R.D is on. Brilliant. I love that sort of cohesion! Anyway, this was released as a song, and advertisement as part of the 100 years of converse. But they don't really have to try, do they, converse? i have myriad pairs scattered around my house, and you know i'm dying or the kurt cobain ones.
I love that we learnt more about the brand during this campaign. The idea that the shoe had been going for a century tickled my fancy, i loved thinking of badass flappers running around a baskteball court in cons before slipping on their dresses to Charleston through the night. I mean, i know that didn't happen, but give me my fake memories!
If you couldn't tell already, i'm a huge fan of advertising. where would we be without trying to remember jingles, or finding out what song is off that ad? It's what fills the days.
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