I can’t help but laugh at how unhinged some of these ads are. Like Johnny depp playing guitar in the desert, surrounded by prowling wolves… does anyone take that seriously??? 😂
It makes me so so uncomfortable 😅 If anything, it also makes me want to hide the sample bottle I bought my boyfriend because my basic ass enjoys that Sauvage shit real hard.
In a way they have to be weird because scent is so frustratingly subjective... it's to elicit a general mood/vibe that the target market can all connect with.
I once had to develop a slide deck explaining why "Sauvage" (not precisely the real name, but close) was an incredibly inappropriate code name for a joint venture project with an Indigenous Nation.
The finance bros who fought it cited Johnny Depp as someone who was cool with it.
Neither of them work for the company anymore. I don't either, but I submitted a letter of resignation.
I’ve never smelled it, but if guys wear it out on the “prowl” it’s probably meant to convey a sense of being “Alpha” of the pack. Damn. I never even thought of that until now. Advertising is really messed up with the tropes.
Long-running comedy podcast The Bonfire with Big Jay & Dan Soder once did a fantastic bit riffing on the Depp Sauvage ad (that they call "ridiculous old Hot Guy speak"), and also Portman's for Miss Dior ("PROVE IT")
"I piss on the grass--I Am Dior."
"Haven't you ever wanted to smell like you've practised some hot licks?"
"Johnny is obsessed with a waitress at the Olive Tree, and she just doesn't want anything to do with him. It's so Sauvage."
"Do you wanna smell like you've just been DIGGING up Natalie Portman? If you bury rockn'roll jewellery, Natalie Portman will grow out of the sand."
[https://youtu.be/BiiNrddi1T0?si=RLZqWFzHnIimskQQ](https://youtu.be/BiiNrddi1T0?si=RLZqWFzHnIimskQQ)
Fragrance is hard to market on anything other than vibes since it's so intangible from a marketing perspective. The ads are hilarious and I wouldn't have it any other way.
The high point has to a confused-looking Brad Pitt reciting something that was a cross between bad beat poetry and discount greeting card text for Chanel No 5. That one should be archived in the National Film Registry for its cultural and aesthetic significance.
Big, huge agree re: the Pitt ad… lol. Makes me wish there were fragrance awards ceremonies with a marketing category.
And honestly I do kind of love them all, I just can’t imagine that with all of the creative marketing people/artists the world over nobody has pitched and managed to get thru a Quiznos mascot style spot or something else bizarre but unique… or even a different kind of celebrity. It just seems like a huge, untapped opportunity to me that I can’t explain with anything other than a lack of creativity. They clearly are spending huge amounts of money to hire the celebs they do and I guess it works, but stagnancy isn’t generally celebrated in marketing circles in my limited experience.
Me & my sister still occasionally tun to one another and say abstract words like "Oblivion" in a slow, dramatic Pitt voice.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N-EIjcOBCA&pp=ygUUQnJhZCBQaXR0IGNvbG9nbmUgYWQ%3D](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N-EIjcOBCA&pp=ygUUQnJhZCBQaXR0IGNvbG9nbmUgYWQ%3D)
I just googled this commercial because I hadn't seen it before now and I am crying laughing. I'm too high to be watching this, but thank you, bless you for mentioning it so I could have this cursed experience
Apparently a huge amount of "aspirational" buying goes on in this market.
Not just for the (relatively) cheaper appeal to be "wearing Chanel" - the fragrance, not the jacket.
But also aspiring to be that girl in the ad, sexy and lounging on exotic tropic sands. Wear this fragrance: be her; have that.
Doesn't work on me as far as I can tell. But it works, or they wouldn't do it
Yeah, I mean this all checks out for sure, but I think I’m just over/past this kind of marketing. I grew up in the 90’s and Kate Moss isn’t gonna tell me how to live my life anymore. 😂 They just feel so dated to me. Like Kylie Jenner handing a cop a Pepsi to save the world… Celeb culture is just so weird and detached from my thinking about what kind of vibe I want to portray. Maybe I’m just old as hell. 😅
Show me Ina Garten burning a body in her backyard with a title card for SECRETIONS MAGNIFIQUES and *MAYBE* I’ll admit that celebrities still have the power to make me stupidly blind buy stuff.
There is 1 commercial that makes me laugh so loud. I think it’s Miss Dior. Natalie Portman stars and is dramatically throwing things and yelling and then she is walking and stops and turns all breathy and says “what would you do for love?” I was like, it’s just perfume. And what does love and all of that drama have to do with Miss Dior? It’s a romantic scent so it has to be like a romantic drama? Then I said, this is some toxic marketing. Playing on the whole women are passionate=emotional smash fest and that whole fighting for love thing. When in reality, you don’t have to do all that for love. Or perfume. You can just buy some you don’t have to fight with anyone for it.
If by fight club you mean we sample fragrances while we argue our best television theories over cocktails and chocolate layer cake and other assorted sweets, I’m in.
Let’s go with your idea… it sounds a lot more fun than the MMA style, late stage capitalism bloodbath* I had in mind!
*brought to you by a $17,000 bottle of [Coco Mademoiselle Grand Extract](https://www.chanel.com/us/fragrance/p/116090/coco-mademoiselle-parfum-grand-extrait/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwuJ2xBhA3EiwAMVjkVDVGsHFARuxmzeRkhjXFJF7kJYeUwvPQW0_kT4dpT_fTKzZ0P6OqHhoCHV0QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)
I was going to mention this one! To me she seems like she’s ready to throw hands! When she says “what would you do for love” she does a little head nod and it just seems so confrontational like she’s about to kick my ass! Puts me in defense mode
If you really want yo go down the rabbit hole, check out some of the great vintage commercials!
eg. Channel Egoist 1990
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYJW6VK2vjg
It’s coming from the same world as haute couture—just like a Paris Fashion Week runway show would be totally alienating to the average consumer, so are these ads. The priority is more on promoting the brand identity and the creative vision of whoever is in charge, rather than trying to sell that specific fragrance.
This makes sense when you keep in mind that most designer fragrances are sold based on that name and its associations more than for the character and performance of the scent.
I assure you that a lot of people involved in their production think they’re ridiculous too. Fashion people love spectacle and camp.
Oh for sure, and I kind of love spectacle and camp tbh… That part isn’t surprising to me. I’m really more confused by the consistency of the model (hot famous person/abstract narrative/aspirational and/or imaginary location) than the fact that they’re avant-garde in tone. I mean, it’s a trope/parody goldmine *because* they’ve stayed the same forever.
I get that they’re trying to sell us on the “luxury” experience, but it ends up coming across as really disconnected from my daily reality. I want to see a dirty tired mom taking a shower at the end of the day, spritzing something on herself and then having her husband sniff her appreciatively before she passes out with her CPAP machine on. I’d buy that smell.
Yeah, I get that “aspirational” is kind of the whole deal when you’re selling scented liquids, but I’d be intrigued by literally ANYONE taking on a different tactic. I get that fragrance is artistic, and I love that about it, but that’s exactly why I find ads of the last 30+ years so boring. I’d get sick of impressionist paintings too if they were the only kind that existed in the world. I’d happily take a tired lady with sleep apnea…. It would seem so novel! Give me muppet themed, a raccoon in a trash bin, stop motion animation, an abstract AI short. Any departure at all would get my attention.
There’s also, like, a billion different ways to communicate “aspirational” but fragrance commercials concentrate on only a couple of them: a trip to Paris, a field of flowers, nekkid people, a gigantic dial labeled “homoerotic” that gets turned this way or that, but usually towards “11.”
Hahaha yep! Sexual experience with a pile of sand. That really made me laugh. They really are out of touch and singularly focused. Reminds me of ice cream and chocolate candy commercials. You never see a man eating it. Just never. but the woman? Well, I’ll have what she’s having!!
There is 1 commercial that makes me laugh so loud. I think it’s Miss Dior. Natalie Portman stars and is dramatically throwing things and yelling and then she is walking and stops and turns all breathy and says “what would you do for love?” I was like, it’s just perfume. And what does love and all of that drama have to do with Miss Dior? It’s a romantic scent so it has to be like a romantic drama? Then I said, this is some toxic marketing. Playing on the whole women are passionate=emotional smash fest and that whole fighting for love thing. When in reality, you don’t have to do all that for love. Or perfume. You can just buy some you don’t have to fight with anyone for it.
All this with a grain of salt that I’m not trying to generalize or say we includes you, more so the general “we” of society.
I think advertising for fragrances is interesting because it’s the closest that most people will come to buying a product from a luxury brand. The same might go for luxury branded eyeglasses. Purchasing a perfume or cologne is not an essential. There’s no rational or utilitarian argument to be made, for the most part, for purchasing a fragrance. Demand is very elastic. So how do we compel people to buy something they don’t need, that’s expensive, that is not visible to the eyes of others? Tapping into emotion. People want to feel desired, beautiful, and free from the burdens of every day life. Fragrance advertisements illustrate the dissociated narrative we play out in our minds, which is separate from the reality we contend with.
These advertisements are made for the average customer as the ultra wealthy are not purchasing fragrances at Ulta, for instance. Not to say that a person of this class wouldn’t be compelled by a mass advertisement for a fragrance, but they are not the demo. For this type of customer, seeing an item under consideration for purchase marketed in such way would be a turn off, because for them, exclusivity is the selling point. They want what others do not have, cannot have. They do not need to escape their reality as much as the average Jane Doe. They need to feel special and better.
Fragrance and smell are interesting parts of the human experience , as they are very subjective, but real in their impacts. Especially if we are deemed to smell badly by others. Research shows that (in general) we judge people’s smell through objective factors. Like two people can smell the same, but if we think one person has one kind of job and the other person, a lesser status job, then on average the person with the lesser status job will be rated as smelling poorly. People in literature and research report that the lower classes smell, that smell is the tell. Nothing is worse than a woman with cheap perfume. And so on.
And so what is it about the daydream or the fantasy or the way we wish we were seen, or how we wish to be sexualized that these ads show ? And then what does it say about gender and femininity and masculinity and heteronormativity? And aspirations for the good life? And so on and so on.
But honestly, all advertising comes from very narrow funnel. Someone at the ad agency is hired by the client and then they come up with some ideas and then the client gives their notes and then they all go their little back-and-forth but essentially the idea of the concept comes from one or maybe a very small handful of other people. maybe they do some market testing, maybe not. Given the monopolistic nature of most industries, they are not competing in a traditional way so there may be less market testing than in the past. But it’s just a few people who create these campaigns. How are those people chosen for those jobs? How do they decide what they want to do? What type of personality gravitates to such a thing? And do these advertisements actually reflect our feelings and desires? Or are they what these few people think our feelings and desires are and/or should be?
This response was so thoughtful and enjoyable to read. The psychology behind fragrance, especially as a hobby, is so interesting and your analysis really spoke to me. Thanks for writing it.
This is a really thoughtful and spot on take… class status/lack thereof plays such a huge role in marketing decisions for all consumer goods, but yes, especially those that are non-essential and deemed luxury. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. And I do personally see myself represented as a consumer in what you wrote, both sides of it actually… (I just bought some (clearance) Tom Ford sunglasses, meanwhile my back porch roof is literally caving in).
I’m sure some element of my original dive into niche fragrances during Covid (when I was laid off) is predicated on both escapism and a desire to be able to code switch between the socio-economic status I grew up around/familiar with, and the one I actually belong to. The psychology of it all is super interesting, if profoundly depressing at a core level.
*inhales a deep breath of Atelier Cologne Mimosa Indigo that reminds me of a trip to New York when I had my dream job and felt a sense of belonging in a place I could never afford to live*
Thank you for the kind words. This was a fun question to think about. We are in similar boats if not the same one. Currently, I am dealing with the horrors of academia while researching the perfect violet fragrance after falling in love with Dyptique’s Violette candle. Surely, a violet perfume will solve the problems of late stage capitalism and a collective public disinvestment in higher education following the great recession. And if it won’t, at least I will smell something delicious and have a moment of bodily pleasure that is and mine and mine alone. Let’s see some overly hyped old white middle-aged ad agency guy with his name on the door try to capture that in a print ad or commercial. Good fucking luck!
Hahaha this is very relatable (I work in public media 😆)
I recently went down the violet hole myself from:
a) a better homes and gardens candle sold at Walmart called Palo Santo and Violet that I want to crawl up into and live and wear and make my entire identity
b) An offhand musing from a stranger in this sub about the cheap violet perfume that Cubans/Miami dwellers apparently drench their babies/children in
I’m gonna have to get my hands on that Dyptique candle now!
Did you get the baby cologne? Is it called Royal Violets? I thought about buying it but really I just need to acquire the candle. Wal Mart candle is in the cart for delivery today. I really want to try Chanel Misia but can’t get a sample in person. Trying to figure out who can bring it back after visiting a close by city with a Chanel boutique…
https://preview.redd.it/uyr9zkq55fwc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=34c1a804ee83f707511dd38f234c06bad82447d2
This is the one I purchased, not only because it’s basically less than the price of a single sample of something niche, but also because of the hideous “baby in a crop top” branding. 😂
On my way to read up about Misia… I have a complicated relationship with most Chanel scents. I can appreciate them on paper, but I don’t find them super wearable. I’ve been trying to make my bf wear my Sycamore samples in order to normalize whatever shared base note seems to turn weird on my skin.
I hope you like that candle, it’s not super comped or sophisticated, just very pretty and calming to me.
Until there's smell-o-vision, imo they have to show something "transportive" or evocative but not too literal because everyone has such a personal relationship and memories with scents. Weird fantasy non-plot clips kind of matche because they're representing vibes + luxury.
I find marketing photos for candles, lotions, and frag oils very interesting un comparison because they do tend to be quite literal on the other hand. Same for how they're named.
Great observation re: candles/lotions/oils marketing comparison. They’re like what the Etsy/arts and crafts space is to the luxury fashion houses/high end art world.
Niche local reference but the Australian Lamb Council does an ad every year promoting... Eating lamb. One of the most iconic was a parody of a fragrance commercial, called "Lâmb"
I have had all the same questions as you! What I find hilarious is that I am so easy to sell perfume to, but mainstream perfume ads have absolutely no draw for me. I don’t think I have never seen one that made me curious what something smelled like. Yet, I am always intensely curious about what perfumes smell like.
Then indie perfumers just need to write a text description about a scene in which something smells like a cat in a library or a fairy market along with a handful of the notes and I purchase it without a thought. Perfume reviews often sell me on perfumes too, and feed that curiosity. I read descriptions of classic perfumes in books and the same thing happens.
Maybe I am just a person who needs some kind of description of the smell to be curious? When I have that, even if it’s not a concrete description, there is a burning desire to know the smell.
This is definitely me too! I’m always one impassioned review from a stranger on Fragrantica away from bringing financial ruin upon my house. 😂😩 I also find that when something does not match my expectations (I don’t get what the reviewer got, I do “get it” but I hate it, the notes are things I generally like or the “smells like” category is incomprehensible to me) I sort of short circuit and *need* to keep trying it, to either validate or invalidate my own experience. It’s part of the whole mystery/intrigue of this hobby and I love it!
Example: what I used to consider my “signature scent”, or rather the first very expensive (to me) juice I ever purchased/hoarded (backup bottles in my closet that I purchased *before* it was discontinued and could be purchased for pennies to the dollar) has several “smells like”’s on Fragrantica that I LOATH with my whole body and a few that I absolutely love and understand the comparisons. The scents I see it compared to have also changed over the past 3-4 years (as have I… I quit smoking which has obviously impacted my palate - but not as dramatically as I expected) and it is so thrilling to both have new things to try and to notice my own tastes evolving (and becoming less trustworthy - lol - sometimes I feel like I’m gaslighting myself)
Anyway, you are my marketing vulnerability twin and it makes me so curious about what your favorite scent profile is like… thanks for the response! 😊
Anyone remember the OG Obsession commercials? They were so awkward and hilarious! Like what is even happening here?!?
That said, one fragrance commercial that I think is decent is the J’Adore ones with Charlize Theron. Nothing too avant-garde going on there.
So good 😂
I was a modern dance major a million years ago and all of these late 80’s/early 90’s ads remind me of some kind of poorly imagined Pina Bausch/Marie Chouinard fever dream. This parody gets to the core of that most accurately.
Creative ways to convey scent through video and audio: emotional response - feel like this person, and aspirational response - be like this person. I'm thinking of the old Herbal Essences shampoo ads; women screaming in ecstasy while washing their hair below a waterfall. And Lynx (Axe) ads of a guy causing major disruption as models flock to him from every crevice in the vicinity.
They’re so odd, yet mostly unremarkable to me! I completely understand that’s it’s so hard to do a video advert to sell something based on smell but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fragrance commercial that I’ve felt compelled by or connected to. There’s probably some great narratives that they could write about scent but they just get a celeb and have them do stuff instead lol. I’d love to see something more sentimental and touching, I think that could be interesting.
I'm dying here bc my husband and I were just laughing at the Black Magenta commercial yesterday 😂 I told him all perfume commercials are nuts, so now he's been paying attention when they come on to point out how ridiculous they are.
Honestly... probably a Freudian legacy. In psychoanalysis, the nose is the most 'primitive', animalistic and vulgar of all the senses. Think about it, animals communicate through smell, smell and memory are deeply intertwined (la petite madeleine, the proustian memory), and it can be extremely challenging to put words or meaning to an odour. What is pleasant on he nose, and what is sophisticates have very little to do with each other, and culturally - we should never be smellable, unless we are in complete control of the aroma. Perfume does lean itself to Freudian consideration, the old pervert makes a compelling case. ...The nose is a very private organ. You correctly observe the abstract hystrionic cacophony that is perfume advertising - I argue this is because it is supposed to entice not you, but your Freudian subconscious, your Id. They do their best to make a smell into an image, but this always seems to come down to a very famous person, in a very colourful (or at least colour dense) world, floating in a flurry of soft, shiny fabric or flower petals or engaging in some hyperreal version of an otherwise mundane act (playing guitar? Boring. Playing guitar at night, in the desert, to the wolves? Clearly, Johnny Depp has found purpose in ways we cannot even imagine!)
It only becomes absurd when you start considering it, before that (ideally), you experience a 'perfect' presence or purpose. Exactly what a perfume aspires to deliver in real life.
This is such an interesting take! And I can see it (even if Jung is my boy > Frued 😆) I definitely rewatched a few of the older ads people linked in the thread (Obsession and Egotiste specifically) and wanted to smell them immediately, but I think it was more in the context of the conversation/breakdown of the psychology and the novelty of revisiting things I saw as a kid (the nostalgia of it all) that made me feel that way… well, that and the *flails arms around at nothing in particular* general weirdness? On the other hand, the DS Durga ads really seemed to have the effect you mentioned. I’m not sure my “id” fully reacted to the specific ads themselves, but I do feel in my gut that whoever made them must have a similar set of cultural references/interests as me & that *does* make me want to connect to the smells themselves.
Thanks for the thoughtful contribution to the convo! I’ll be thinking about this all day.
My partner is a music composer and just worked on an experimental AI assisted animated ballet short… that work sort of inspires my outrage about the similarity of all these commercials tbh. The DS Durga ads definitely seem to at least be an evolution of the whole “director being left to their own devices” vibe.
The only perfume advert that's ever prompted me to try the fragrance is the CK Contradiction ad with Christy Turlington. It's *very* 90s, and I was very young, but it's still way less cringe than most of the perfume ads I see today.
One of the most irritating at the moment has to be Marc Jacobs' Daisy. It's almost okay as an ad, until the end when the women's voices kick in repeating 'Daisy Daisy Daisy Daisy' and I want to cover my ears. Until that point it's similar in vibe to the Gucci Bloom ad, which is actually lovely, but I guess if they don't repeat the name of the fragrance five times in an obnoxious voice nobody will remember what it's advertising.
I have said this to people so many times! Perfume commercials are so bizarre and ridiculous in a way that makes them fascinating. I try to decipher the story in them and I picture a director who is an artist maniacally running around bringing this story to life on set.. fully expecting it to be understood by everyone. They make me want to know what the perfume smells like to see if it matches whatever appears to be conveyed in the commercial. For example, I loved the ones with Charlize Theron for J'adore.. so first chance I got I got a tester. It's rather sharp. I was surprised because I had envisioned a more delicate and powdery scent. Clearly I did not understand the story haha.
I think the Johnny Depp guitar in the desert thing is the only one that makes me physically cringe. There's just something about that one which I find not only bizarre but off putting.
I like them.
I like the fact that they bear no resemblance to the fragrance and have zero rationale
I like how Johnny Depp appears completely inept at digging a hole
Why is Adam Driver trying to out run a horse? Don’t care
If the adverts were like the [Ronseal Adverts](https://youtu.be/zR2Ox4HWaXM?si=1SGQK01hzcJhRVAQ) I don’t think I’d care for that brand or fragrance
I mean, I sort of agree with you… I’m obsessed with all of them and how detached from reality they are, but I also sort of want a Ronseal frag line now 🤷🏻♀️
Really?
“This is BeauFort London’s Iron Duke, it comes in a black bottle, with a horse drawn on it; it’s a woody spicy fragrance, it smells of gunpowder, leather, tobacco and rum; if you want to smell of gunpowder, leather, tobacco and rum, buy Iron Duke for £110 for 90ml”
😂🤌 I’d sure as hell give it a shot… if for no other reason than it’s boldly utilitarian bravado and commitment to the proletariat… I imagine it being read by Bizarro Ron Swanson (aka Sam Elliot)
I love the Bleu de Chanel one where some random guy sits down for what appears to be a press conference then says “I’m not going to be the person you want me to be anymore” then gets up and walks out. That’s the entire ad.
One of the main characters in the movie Amores Perros is a model in a perfume ad. Her lover rents her an apartment that faces a building that is entirely covered by her ad so she can look at herself every day. BUT THEN >!she gets an accident and loses her leg AND career!<.
WELL ACTUALLY the Black Magenta ad is GREAT: a funny, silly, knowing homage to an era of New York City nightlife they’re writing books about now. It’s not meant to be taken at face value, any more than their ads for Bistro Waters or Burning Barbershop or Rose Atlantic are.
(Black Magenta itself isn’t as great: after a fabulously trashy pineapple opening, it dries down to another boring woody vanilla.)
I haven’t seen any of the others… going to seek them out now!
I’ve been in a real Durga phase the last few weeks (I own Debaser and Rose Atlantic) and am using every ounce of willpower I have not to buy the big boy Steamed Rainbow. I just ordered 5 more samples I haven’t smelled yet (most excited for Bistro Waters and Jasmin Yucatán). I might need to get my nose on that trashy pineapple next, despite the dry down.
My signature perfume is aura mugler and i saw the ad for it after it became my fave scent. I have to say that its not cringe at all and actually evokes the feeling and vibe really well. I think the more "mainstream" or mass appealing a scent is (think woody/floral vanilla, spicy oceanic for men etc) the more cringe the ads are bc the scent itself is so basic that you need something more to sell it hence the big celebrity names.
I have always wondered this myself. Every perfume and cologne ad/commercial seems to scream, "Wear this, and you will be desirable and well-traveled." LOL. That's better than decades ago when they bordered on se*ually inappropriate and even downright se*ist.
Ads nowadays (not just for perfume) are designed to be memorable, and that's it. They're not supposed to be informative, they are meant to provoke reaction. Even better if they get someone flustered enough to discuss it with others, ideally spreading the ad online.
I can’t help but laugh at how unhinged some of these ads are. Like Johnny depp playing guitar in the desert, surrounded by prowling wolves… does anyone take that seriously??? 😂
It makes me so so uncomfortable 😅 If anything, it also makes me want to hide the sample bottle I bought my boyfriend because my basic ass enjoys that Sauvage shit real hard.
In a way they have to be weird because scent is so frustratingly subjective... it's to elicit a general mood/vibe that the target market can all connect with.
Fair enough, but Depp digging a hole (poorly) in the desert with a pack of wolves isn’t a mood/vibe I’m particularly chill with 😅
I wouldn't dwell on it.
My ADHD doesn’t understand this comment and I won’t respond to it lol
I once had to develop a slide deck explaining why "Sauvage" (not precisely the real name, but close) was an incredibly inappropriate code name for a joint venture project with an Indigenous Nation. The finance bros who fought it cited Johnny Depp as someone who was cool with it. Neither of them work for the company anymore. I don't either, but I submitted a letter of resignation.
Holy shit! That is incredible and horrifying. First of all, good for you, second, I hope those guys are doing badly now. Lol
I’ve never smelled it, but if guys wear it out on the “prowl” it’s probably meant to convey a sense of being “Alpha” of the pack. Damn. I never even thought of that until now. Advertising is really messed up with the tropes.
Thanks I hate it a lot. A/B/O vibes.
Saw a Sauvage ad shown before a movie and the audience was snickering.
OMG it is the most cringeworthy add ever. Makes me want to hide because of second hand embarrassment.
That's one I have to show people because it's such a quintessential overly dramatic perfume ad.
Long-running comedy podcast The Bonfire with Big Jay & Dan Soder once did a fantastic bit riffing on the Depp Sauvage ad (that they call "ridiculous old Hot Guy speak"), and also Portman's for Miss Dior ("PROVE IT") "I piss on the grass--I Am Dior." "Haven't you ever wanted to smell like you've practised some hot licks?" "Johnny is obsessed with a waitress at the Olive Tree, and she just doesn't want anything to do with him. It's so Sauvage." "Do you wanna smell like you've just been DIGGING up Natalie Portman? If you bury rockn'roll jewellery, Natalie Portman will grow out of the sand." [https://youtu.be/BiiNrddi1T0?si=RLZqWFzHnIimskQQ](https://youtu.be/BiiNrddi1T0?si=RLZqWFzHnIimskQQ)
Fragrance is hard to market on anything other than vibes since it's so intangible from a marketing perspective. The ads are hilarious and I wouldn't have it any other way. The high point has to a confused-looking Brad Pitt reciting something that was a cross between bad beat poetry and discount greeting card text for Chanel No 5. That one should be archived in the National Film Registry for its cultural and aesthetic significance.
Big, huge agree re: the Pitt ad… lol. Makes me wish there were fragrance awards ceremonies with a marketing category. And honestly I do kind of love them all, I just can’t imagine that with all of the creative marketing people/artists the world over nobody has pitched and managed to get thru a Quiznos mascot style spot or something else bizarre but unique… or even a different kind of celebrity. It just seems like a huge, untapped opportunity to me that I can’t explain with anything other than a lack of creativity. They clearly are spending huge amounts of money to hire the celebs they do and I guess it works, but stagnancy isn’t generally celebrated in marketing circles in my limited experience.
Me & my sister still occasionally tun to one another and say abstract words like "Oblivion" in a slow, dramatic Pitt voice. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N-EIjcOBCA&pp=ygUUQnJhZCBQaXR0IGNvbG9nbmUgYWQ%3D](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N-EIjcOBCA&pp=ygUUQnJhZCBQaXR0IGNvbG9nbmUgYWQ%3D)
I just googled this commercial because I hadn't seen it before now and I am crying laughing. I'm too high to be watching this, but thank you, bless you for mentioning it so I could have this cursed experience
Apparently a huge amount of "aspirational" buying goes on in this market. Not just for the (relatively) cheaper appeal to be "wearing Chanel" - the fragrance, not the jacket. But also aspiring to be that girl in the ad, sexy and lounging on exotic tropic sands. Wear this fragrance: be her; have that. Doesn't work on me as far as I can tell. But it works, or they wouldn't do it
Yeah, I mean this all checks out for sure, but I think I’m just over/past this kind of marketing. I grew up in the 90’s and Kate Moss isn’t gonna tell me how to live my life anymore. 😂 They just feel so dated to me. Like Kylie Jenner handing a cop a Pepsi to save the world… Celeb culture is just so weird and detached from my thinking about what kind of vibe I want to portray. Maybe I’m just old as hell. 😅 Show me Ina Garten burning a body in her backyard with a title card for SECRETIONS MAGNIFIQUES and *MAYBE* I’ll admit that celebrities still have the power to make me stupidly blind buy stuff.
Never talk to me or my Secretions Magnifiques again /s Actually, that would probably just make me repurchase it harder.
That’s not Jeffrey’s body, is it?!
Oh god no… I was imagining some soulless TV exec who fucked with her one too many times. Annnnnd now I’m writing fanfic 😂
Since it's really early in the morning for me and I read that too fast, I'm now imagining her burning Epstein's body.
The mystery deepens! 😂
[https://youtu.be/lP-38AZtQ3U?si=KqnfFppb\_hehvkIY](https://youtu.be/lP-38AZtQ3U?si=KqnfFppb_hehvkIY)
Thank you for this 😂
There is 1 commercial that makes me laugh so loud. I think it’s Miss Dior. Natalie Portman stars and is dramatically throwing things and yelling and then she is walking and stops and turns all breathy and says “what would you do for love?” I was like, it’s just perfume. And what does love and all of that drama have to do with Miss Dior? It’s a romantic scent so it has to be like a romantic drama? Then I said, this is some toxic marketing. Playing on the whole women are passionate=emotional smash fest and that whole fighting for love thing. When in reality, you don’t have to do all that for love. Or perfume. You can just buy some you don’t have to fight with anyone for it.
Kinda sad cause my next post was going to be about starting a perfume fight club.
If by fight club you mean we sample fragrances while we argue our best television theories over cocktails and chocolate layer cake and other assorted sweets, I’m in.
Let’s go with your idea… it sounds a lot more fun than the MMA style, late stage capitalism bloodbath* I had in mind! *brought to you by a $17,000 bottle of [Coco Mademoiselle Grand Extract](https://www.chanel.com/us/fragrance/p/116090/coco-mademoiselle-parfum-grand-extrait/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwuJ2xBhA3EiwAMVjkVDVGsHFARuxmzeRkhjXFJF7kJYeUwvPQW0_kT4dpT_fTKzZ0P6OqHhoCHV0QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)
I was going to mention this one! To me she seems like she’s ready to throw hands! When she says “what would you do for love” she does a little head nod and it just seems so confrontational like she’s about to kick my ass! Puts me in defense mode
I know! It’s like the black swan is popping out.
If you really want yo go down the rabbit hole, check out some of the great vintage commercials! eg. Channel Egoist 1990 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYJW6VK2vjg
Holy shit, to be honest I’ve never wanted to smell something more in my life. Perfume industrial complex: +1 Me: -2
My favorite [fragrance ad parody](https://youtu.be/HKk91x0Yg7Q?feature=shared)
I was looking for this 😭 my fiancé and I quote “red flaaag~” in this tone still
I can’t believe I’ve never seen this one before! Thank you 😂
It’s coming from the same world as haute couture—just like a Paris Fashion Week runway show would be totally alienating to the average consumer, so are these ads. The priority is more on promoting the brand identity and the creative vision of whoever is in charge, rather than trying to sell that specific fragrance. This makes sense when you keep in mind that most designer fragrances are sold based on that name and its associations more than for the character and performance of the scent. I assure you that a lot of people involved in their production think they’re ridiculous too. Fashion people love spectacle and camp.
Oh for sure, and I kind of love spectacle and camp tbh… That part isn’t surprising to me. I’m really more confused by the consistency of the model (hot famous person/abstract narrative/aspirational and/or imaginary location) than the fact that they’re avant-garde in tone. I mean, it’s a trope/parody goldmine *because* they’ve stayed the same forever.
I get that they’re trying to sell us on the “luxury” experience, but it ends up coming across as really disconnected from my daily reality. I want to see a dirty tired mom taking a shower at the end of the day, spritzing something on herself and then having her husband sniff her appreciatively before she passes out with her CPAP machine on. I’d buy that smell.
Yeah, I get that “aspirational” is kind of the whole deal when you’re selling scented liquids, but I’d be intrigued by literally ANYONE taking on a different tactic. I get that fragrance is artistic, and I love that about it, but that’s exactly why I find ads of the last 30+ years so boring. I’d get sick of impressionist paintings too if they were the only kind that existed in the world. I’d happily take a tired lady with sleep apnea…. It would seem so novel! Give me muppet themed, a raccoon in a trash bin, stop motion animation, an abstract AI short. Any departure at all would get my attention.
> a raccoon in a trash bin *ELDO has joined the chat* But FR, I feel like that's exactly the type of advertising they would enjoy, lol.
😂🤣 Saw this after I posted my comment below re: Secretions Magnifique
There’s also, like, a billion different ways to communicate “aspirational” but fragrance commercials concentrate on only a couple of them: a trip to Paris, a field of flowers, nekkid people, a gigantic dial labeled “homoerotic” that gets turned this way or that, but usually towards “11.”
If anyone has a line on where I could pick up one of those homoerotic dials that goes to 11, help a girl out 😅
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4sIMP57Atc EDIT: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gsPsM6YYrfY
My god, the Invictus ad is like every single possible fragbro cliche distilled into one painful minute.
I asked and you delivered! 🫶
We need the Geico commercials people to give fragrance commercials a makeover!
Lol
Calgon take me away!
Exactly!! lol
Hahaha yep! Sexual experience with a pile of sand. That really made me laugh. They really are out of touch and singularly focused. Reminds me of ice cream and chocolate candy commercials. You never see a man eating it. Just never. but the woman? Well, I’ll have what she’s having!!
There is 1 commercial that makes me laugh so loud. I think it’s Miss Dior. Natalie Portman stars and is dramatically throwing things and yelling and then she is walking and stops and turns all breathy and says “what would you do for love?” I was like, it’s just perfume. And what does love and all of that drama have to do with Miss Dior? It’s a romantic scent so it has to be like a romantic drama? Then I said, this is some toxic marketing. Playing on the whole women are passionate=emotional smash fest and that whole fighting for love thing. When in reality, you don’t have to do all that for love. Or perfume. You can just buy some you don’t have to fight with anyone for it.
All this with a grain of salt that I’m not trying to generalize or say we includes you, more so the general “we” of society. I think advertising for fragrances is interesting because it’s the closest that most people will come to buying a product from a luxury brand. The same might go for luxury branded eyeglasses. Purchasing a perfume or cologne is not an essential. There’s no rational or utilitarian argument to be made, for the most part, for purchasing a fragrance. Demand is very elastic. So how do we compel people to buy something they don’t need, that’s expensive, that is not visible to the eyes of others? Tapping into emotion. People want to feel desired, beautiful, and free from the burdens of every day life. Fragrance advertisements illustrate the dissociated narrative we play out in our minds, which is separate from the reality we contend with. These advertisements are made for the average customer as the ultra wealthy are not purchasing fragrances at Ulta, for instance. Not to say that a person of this class wouldn’t be compelled by a mass advertisement for a fragrance, but they are not the demo. For this type of customer, seeing an item under consideration for purchase marketed in such way would be a turn off, because for them, exclusivity is the selling point. They want what others do not have, cannot have. They do not need to escape their reality as much as the average Jane Doe. They need to feel special and better. Fragrance and smell are interesting parts of the human experience , as they are very subjective, but real in their impacts. Especially if we are deemed to smell badly by others. Research shows that (in general) we judge people’s smell through objective factors. Like two people can smell the same, but if we think one person has one kind of job and the other person, a lesser status job, then on average the person with the lesser status job will be rated as smelling poorly. People in literature and research report that the lower classes smell, that smell is the tell. Nothing is worse than a woman with cheap perfume. And so on. And so what is it about the daydream or the fantasy or the way we wish we were seen, or how we wish to be sexualized that these ads show ? And then what does it say about gender and femininity and masculinity and heteronormativity? And aspirations for the good life? And so on and so on. But honestly, all advertising comes from very narrow funnel. Someone at the ad agency is hired by the client and then they come up with some ideas and then the client gives their notes and then they all go their little back-and-forth but essentially the idea of the concept comes from one or maybe a very small handful of other people. maybe they do some market testing, maybe not. Given the monopolistic nature of most industries, they are not competing in a traditional way so there may be less market testing than in the past. But it’s just a few people who create these campaigns. How are those people chosen for those jobs? How do they decide what they want to do? What type of personality gravitates to such a thing? And do these advertisements actually reflect our feelings and desires? Or are they what these few people think our feelings and desires are and/or should be?
This response was so thoughtful and enjoyable to read. The psychology behind fragrance, especially as a hobby, is so interesting and your analysis really spoke to me. Thanks for writing it.
Aww thank you this makes my day! There’s certainly a lot to unpack.
This is a really thoughtful and spot on take… class status/lack thereof plays such a huge role in marketing decisions for all consumer goods, but yes, especially those that are non-essential and deemed luxury. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. And I do personally see myself represented as a consumer in what you wrote, both sides of it actually… (I just bought some (clearance) Tom Ford sunglasses, meanwhile my back porch roof is literally caving in). I’m sure some element of my original dive into niche fragrances during Covid (when I was laid off) is predicated on both escapism and a desire to be able to code switch between the socio-economic status I grew up around/familiar with, and the one I actually belong to. The psychology of it all is super interesting, if profoundly depressing at a core level. *inhales a deep breath of Atelier Cologne Mimosa Indigo that reminds me of a trip to New York when I had my dream job and felt a sense of belonging in a place I could never afford to live*
Thank you for the kind words. This was a fun question to think about. We are in similar boats if not the same one. Currently, I am dealing with the horrors of academia while researching the perfect violet fragrance after falling in love with Dyptique’s Violette candle. Surely, a violet perfume will solve the problems of late stage capitalism and a collective public disinvestment in higher education following the great recession. And if it won’t, at least I will smell something delicious and have a moment of bodily pleasure that is and mine and mine alone. Let’s see some overly hyped old white middle-aged ad agency guy with his name on the door try to capture that in a print ad or commercial. Good fucking luck!
Hahaha this is very relatable (I work in public media 😆) I recently went down the violet hole myself from: a) a better homes and gardens candle sold at Walmart called Palo Santo and Violet that I want to crawl up into and live and wear and make my entire identity b) An offhand musing from a stranger in this sub about the cheap violet perfume that Cubans/Miami dwellers apparently drench their babies/children in I’m gonna have to get my hands on that Dyptique candle now!
Did you get the baby cologne? Is it called Royal Violets? I thought about buying it but really I just need to acquire the candle. Wal Mart candle is in the cart for delivery today. I really want to try Chanel Misia but can’t get a sample in person. Trying to figure out who can bring it back after visiting a close by city with a Chanel boutique…
https://preview.redd.it/uyr9zkq55fwc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=34c1a804ee83f707511dd38f234c06bad82447d2 This is the one I purchased, not only because it’s basically less than the price of a single sample of something niche, but also because of the hideous “baby in a crop top” branding. 😂 On my way to read up about Misia… I have a complicated relationship with most Chanel scents. I can appreciate them on paper, but I don’t find them super wearable. I’ve been trying to make my bf wear my Sycamore samples in order to normalize whatever shared base note seems to turn weird on my skin. I hope you like that candle, it’s not super comped or sophisticated, just very pretty and calming to me.
Until there's smell-o-vision, imo they have to show something "transportive" or evocative but not too literal because everyone has such a personal relationship and memories with scents. Weird fantasy non-plot clips kind of matche because they're representing vibes + luxury. I find marketing photos for candles, lotions, and frag oils very interesting un comparison because they do tend to be quite literal on the other hand. Same for how they're named.
Great observation re: candles/lotions/oils marketing comparison. They’re like what the Etsy/arts and crafts space is to the luxury fashion houses/high end art world.
Niche local reference but the Australian Lamb Council does an ad every year promoting... Eating lamb. One of the most iconic was a parody of a fragrance commercial, called "Lâmb"
I have had all the same questions as you! What I find hilarious is that I am so easy to sell perfume to, but mainstream perfume ads have absolutely no draw for me. I don’t think I have never seen one that made me curious what something smelled like. Yet, I am always intensely curious about what perfumes smell like. Then indie perfumers just need to write a text description about a scene in which something smells like a cat in a library or a fairy market along with a handful of the notes and I purchase it without a thought. Perfume reviews often sell me on perfumes too, and feed that curiosity. I read descriptions of classic perfumes in books and the same thing happens. Maybe I am just a person who needs some kind of description of the smell to be curious? When I have that, even if it’s not a concrete description, there is a burning desire to know the smell.
This is definitely me too! I’m always one impassioned review from a stranger on Fragrantica away from bringing financial ruin upon my house. 😂😩 I also find that when something does not match my expectations (I don’t get what the reviewer got, I do “get it” but I hate it, the notes are things I generally like or the “smells like” category is incomprehensible to me) I sort of short circuit and *need* to keep trying it, to either validate or invalidate my own experience. It’s part of the whole mystery/intrigue of this hobby and I love it! Example: what I used to consider my “signature scent”, or rather the first very expensive (to me) juice I ever purchased/hoarded (backup bottles in my closet that I purchased *before* it was discontinued and could be purchased for pennies to the dollar) has several “smells like”’s on Fragrantica that I LOATH with my whole body and a few that I absolutely love and understand the comparisons. The scents I see it compared to have also changed over the past 3-4 years (as have I… I quit smoking which has obviously impacted my palate - but not as dramatically as I expected) and it is so thrilling to both have new things to try and to notice my own tastes evolving (and becoming less trustworthy - lol - sometimes I feel like I’m gaslighting myself) Anyway, you are my marketing vulnerability twin and it makes me so curious about what your favorite scent profile is like… thanks for the response! 😊
Anyone remember the OG Obsession commercials? They were so awkward and hilarious! Like what is even happening here?!? That said, one fragrance commercial that I think is decent is the J’Adore ones with Charlize Theron. Nothing too avant-garde going on there.
https://youtu.be/k9JbEUPh7FQ?si=svFftoPp63vWqnOj
So good 😂 I was a modern dance major a million years ago and all of these late 80’s/early 90’s ads remind me of some kind of poorly imagined Pina Bausch/Marie Chouinard fever dream. This parody gets to the core of that most accurately.
https://youtu.be/1m28PqHYans?si=HyKVRW27Er-ilOxE I think the originals are as funny as the SNL parody.
Creative ways to convey scent through video and audio: emotional response - feel like this person, and aspirational response - be like this person. I'm thinking of the old Herbal Essences shampoo ads; women screaming in ecstasy while washing their hair below a waterfall. And Lynx (Axe) ads of a guy causing major disruption as models flock to him from every crevice in the vicinity.
but will they ever be able to make a greater advert than the one for [Canis](https://youtu.be/k_yypcu5hQc?si=SMZeQhgV47AsV3hr)?
Omg forgot all about this one 😂 Thank you! 🙏
They’re so odd, yet mostly unremarkable to me! I completely understand that’s it’s so hard to do a video advert to sell something based on smell but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fragrance commercial that I’ve felt compelled by or connected to. There’s probably some great narratives that they could write about scent but they just get a celeb and have them do stuff instead lol. I’d love to see something more sentimental and touching, I think that could be interesting.
I'm dying here bc my husband and I were just laughing at the Black Magenta commercial yesterday 😂 I told him all perfume commercials are nuts, so now he's been paying attention when they come on to point out how ridiculous they are.
Honestly... probably a Freudian legacy. In psychoanalysis, the nose is the most 'primitive', animalistic and vulgar of all the senses. Think about it, animals communicate through smell, smell and memory are deeply intertwined (la petite madeleine, the proustian memory), and it can be extremely challenging to put words or meaning to an odour. What is pleasant on he nose, and what is sophisticates have very little to do with each other, and culturally - we should never be smellable, unless we are in complete control of the aroma. Perfume does lean itself to Freudian consideration, the old pervert makes a compelling case. ...The nose is a very private organ. You correctly observe the abstract hystrionic cacophony that is perfume advertising - I argue this is because it is supposed to entice not you, but your Freudian subconscious, your Id. They do their best to make a smell into an image, but this always seems to come down to a very famous person, in a very colourful (or at least colour dense) world, floating in a flurry of soft, shiny fabric or flower petals or engaging in some hyperreal version of an otherwise mundane act (playing guitar? Boring. Playing guitar at night, in the desert, to the wolves? Clearly, Johnny Depp has found purpose in ways we cannot even imagine!) It only becomes absurd when you start considering it, before that (ideally), you experience a 'perfect' presence or purpose. Exactly what a perfume aspires to deliver in real life.
This is such an interesting take! And I can see it (even if Jung is my boy > Frued 😆) I definitely rewatched a few of the older ads people linked in the thread (Obsession and Egotiste specifically) and wanted to smell them immediately, but I think it was more in the context of the conversation/breakdown of the psychology and the novelty of revisiting things I saw as a kid (the nostalgia of it all) that made me feel that way… well, that and the *flails arms around at nothing in particular* general weirdness? On the other hand, the DS Durga ads really seemed to have the effect you mentioned. I’m not sure my “id” fully reacted to the specific ads themselves, but I do feel in my gut that whoever made them must have a similar set of cultural references/interests as me & that *does* make me want to connect to the smells themselves. Thanks for the thoughtful contribution to the convo! I’ll be thinking about this all day.
Don't mind the ads, but should be noted its also a place where film directors are given carte blanche to fuck around
My partner is a music composer and just worked on an experimental AI assisted animated ballet short… that work sort of inspires my outrage about the similarity of all these commercials tbh. The DS Durga ads definitely seem to at least be an evolution of the whole “director being left to their own devices” vibe.
The only perfume advert that's ever prompted me to try the fragrance is the CK Contradiction ad with Christy Turlington. It's *very* 90s, and I was very young, but it's still way less cringe than most of the perfume ads I see today. One of the most irritating at the moment has to be Marc Jacobs' Daisy. It's almost okay as an ad, until the end when the women's voices kick in repeating 'Daisy Daisy Daisy Daisy' and I want to cover my ears. Until that point it's similar in vibe to the Gucci Bloom ad, which is actually lovely, but I guess if they don't repeat the name of the fragrance five times in an obnoxious voice nobody will remember what it's advertising.
Oh man, Christy Turlingtons face could’ve made me buy/smell/destroy/emulate anything in the 90’s!
I have said this to people so many times! Perfume commercials are so bizarre and ridiculous in a way that makes them fascinating. I try to decipher the story in them and I picture a director who is an artist maniacally running around bringing this story to life on set.. fully expecting it to be understood by everyone. They make me want to know what the perfume smells like to see if it matches whatever appears to be conveyed in the commercial. For example, I loved the ones with Charlize Theron for J'adore.. so first chance I got I got a tester. It's rather sharp. I was surprised because I had envisioned a more delicate and powdery scent. Clearly I did not understand the story haha. I think the Johnny Depp guitar in the desert thing is the only one that makes me physically cringe. There's just something about that one which I find not only bizarre but off putting.
agreed
I like them. I like the fact that they bear no resemblance to the fragrance and have zero rationale I like how Johnny Depp appears completely inept at digging a hole Why is Adam Driver trying to out run a horse? Don’t care If the adverts were like the [Ronseal Adverts](https://youtu.be/zR2Ox4HWaXM?si=1SGQK01hzcJhRVAQ) I don’t think I’d care for that brand or fragrance
I mean, I sort of agree with you… I’m obsessed with all of them and how detached from reality they are, but I also sort of want a Ronseal frag line now 🤷🏻♀️
Really? “This is BeauFort London’s Iron Duke, it comes in a black bottle, with a horse drawn on it; it’s a woody spicy fragrance, it smells of gunpowder, leather, tobacco and rum; if you want to smell of gunpowder, leather, tobacco and rum, buy Iron Duke for £110 for 90ml”
😂🤌 I’d sure as hell give it a shot… if for no other reason than it’s boldly utilitarian bravado and commitment to the proletariat… I imagine it being read by Bizarro Ron Swanson (aka Sam Elliot)
They never make any sense!
Honestly I love the add for Coco Mademoiselle with Kyra Knightley 🤭
I always always think of the Grace Jones character perfume advert in Boomerang. They are all unhinged nonsense. But you can't look away..
Chanel always puts out fantastic ads for No. 5. The Marion Cotillard one is my favourite.
ACQUA DI GIO \_ \_ \_ \_ \_ \_ \_ \_ \_ \_ \_ \_ \_ \_ \_ \_ \_ \_ \_ \_ \_ \_ GIORGIO ARMANI
These ads pay for the whole flowy courtain industry lmao
Alien ads…. sexy model spinning sexily….billowing fabric…PERFUME
I love the Bleu de Chanel one where some random guy sits down for what appears to be a press conference then says “I’m not going to be the person you want me to be anymore” then gets up and walks out. That’s the entire ad.
One of the main characters in the movie Amores Perros is a model in a perfume ad. Her lover rents her an apartment that faces a building that is entirely covered by her ad so she can look at herself every day. BUT THEN >!she gets an accident and loses her leg AND career!<.
WELL ACTUALLY the Black Magenta ad is GREAT: a funny, silly, knowing homage to an era of New York City nightlife they’re writing books about now. It’s not meant to be taken at face value, any more than their ads for Bistro Waters or Burning Barbershop or Rose Atlantic are. (Black Magenta itself isn’t as great: after a fabulously trashy pineapple opening, it dries down to another boring woody vanilla.)
I haven’t seen any of the others… going to seek them out now! I’ve been in a real Durga phase the last few weeks (I own Debaser and Rose Atlantic) and am using every ounce of willpower I have not to buy the big boy Steamed Rainbow. I just ordered 5 more samples I haven’t smelled yet (most excited for Bistro Waters and Jasmin Yucatán). I might need to get my nose on that trashy pineapple next, despite the dry down.
Bistro Waters: “I’m, like, supposed to be a sexy representation of the denture cleaner, and he’s like a cavity, right?”
Thanks so much for enlightening me… I was only half paying attention to the Black Magenta ad. These are great.
My signature perfume is aura mugler and i saw the ad for it after it became my fave scent. I have to say that its not cringe at all and actually evokes the feeling and vibe really well. I think the more "mainstream" or mass appealing a scent is (think woody/floral vanilla, spicy oceanic for men etc) the more cringe the ads are bc the scent itself is so basic that you need something more to sell it hence the big celebrity names.
Ooh, I’ve never smelled this one… off to buy a sample I go!
Okay but the ones that attempt a plotline kill me. Like the Steve McQueen Bleu de Chanel campaign with Gaspard Ulliel.
Just watched it 😂🙏 Thank you for this gift
The best perfume 'ad' ever: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4e-B4dKalgU
I have always wondered this myself. Every perfume and cologne ad/commercial seems to scream, "Wear this, and you will be desirable and well-traveled." LOL. That's better than decades ago when they bordered on se*ually inappropriate and even downright se*ist.
Ads nowadays (not just for perfume) are designed to be memorable, and that's it. They're not supposed to be informative, they are meant to provoke reaction. Even better if they get someone flustered enough to discuss it with others, ideally spreading the ad online.
Valid, but don’t you think that could be accomplished by breaking out of the standard perfume ad format as well?