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Just give me my Brut and my record collection…

Posted by Robin on 9 April 2009 22 Comments

A interesting series of commercials for the iconic Brut cologne. Each is designed to alienate a different group: the ad just below showers scorn on boy bands, but there is also an ad mocking vegetarians, and another poking fun at metrosexuals.

Filed Under: perfume in the news
Tagged With: brut, video

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22 Comments

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  1. Nava says:
    9 April 2009 at 8:39 am

    Geez, are those serious? I didn’t realize how threatened the rough-and-tumble male was by metrosexuals, boy bands and vegetarians. To quote Bill Murray from my most favorite annoying movie, “Groundhog Day”, “Don’t drive angry!”

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    • Robin says:
      9 April 2009 at 9:33 am

      It’s a very odd ad campaign, and so entirely different from the humorous (and youth-oriented) approach used by other retro brands, like Old Spice.

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  2. dewey eyed says:
    9 April 2009 at 9:24 am

    Hmm, advertising by flaunting* intolerance as a positive trait. Why not just add an ‘e’ to the end of the bottle’s label and get it over with? (*I’m sure the ad team would be all over the word ‘flaunt’, too. Brut men flaunt nothing! Flaunting is for those Hermes-wearing…. etc.)

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    • Robin says:
      9 April 2009 at 9:35 am

      Yes…and can see how that would work for some products, maybe, but would think Brut would be in the position of needing to attract a new, younger audience, and not wanting to entrench themselves in the spot they’re already in?

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      • Daisy says:
        9 April 2009 at 10:09 am

        Entrenched? More like Brut should be IN A TRENCH….covered with soil and left for dead….sorry, Brut hurts my head and makes me a little nauseous…do you think these ads will trigger the final demise of Brut? (hopeful) …and could the same work for Axe?? (double hopeful)

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        • Robin says:
          9 April 2009 at 10:56 am

          Nothing will stop Axe. Brut — no idea what kind of shape they’re in. Can’t even remember who owns it.

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  3. Joe says:
    9 April 2009 at 11:21 am

    Cheap, tired, old, worn-out, sterotype-based blatant homophobia. “Real men don’t eat quiche” crap like this needs to be left back in the early 1980s.

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    • Robin says:
      9 April 2009 at 11:24 am

      The “real man” vibe is rather creepy, and I would think, as I said above, that it wouldn’t accomplish anything in terms of attracting a new audience to a brand that is probably already speaking to that type of “real man”. Very odd.

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      • Daisy says:
        9 April 2009 at 12:23 pm

        Looked a little like a wife-beater too. nice.

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        • alotofscents says:
          9 April 2009 at 3:36 pm

          Didn’t he though Daisy?! A man afraid of change. Karaoke isn’t lip syncing, it’s the opposite. *Brut is for dumb wife beaters* It was funny though. Personally, I like Old Spice. Although my Daddy wore it so I can’t connect to it sexually. …now Polo, yum, that’s a different story.
          lol, Becca

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  4. owengreen says:
    9 April 2009 at 12:45 pm

    whew, I can finally smell g… like something without questioning whether or not I’m threatening my delicate definition of masculinity that I project to the world.

    “How often it is, that the angry man rages denial of what his inner self is telling him.”

    -Frank Herbert

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    • alotofscents says:
      9 April 2009 at 3:38 pm

      How true grasshopper.

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    • Robin says:
      9 April 2009 at 3:58 pm

      Nice quote, thanks.

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  5. krokodilgena says:
    9 April 2009 at 3:11 pm

    I’m being a ~*dj*~ right now, so I can’t listen to the commercial….
    why are the people in the beginning Asian?
    effeminate Asian male stereotype??

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    • alotofscents says:
      9 April 2009 at 3:39 pm

      I didn’t even notice they were Asian. I don’t think it’s a stereotype, is it?

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    • Robin says:
      9 April 2009 at 3:58 pm

      I suppose.

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  6. Zeezee says:
    9 April 2009 at 3:41 pm

    Yawn. Shorter ad: insecure in your masculinity? Bash some people who dare transgress a narrow gendered norm. Oh, and wear perfume.
    Eh. What? I thought we as a society were over this phase.

    OTOH, it might make a nice assignment for high school age students: analyze the dynamics of vintage sexism.

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    • Robin says:
      9 April 2009 at 3:58 pm

      Yes, that would have shaved it down to about 10 seconds.

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  7. taniasanchez says:
    9 April 2009 at 4:30 pm

    Odd—it could have been funny, but it’s all so ponderous and slow. Fire the director.

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    • Robin says:
      9 April 2009 at 4:40 pm

      Yes…I do think the recent Old Spice campaign effectively called upon their own “real man” image in a humorous way…simultaneously reinforcing the image and laughing at it. This one is a fail.

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  8. wondermelmo says:
    9 April 2009 at 5:58 pm

    I’m glad I’m not alone in getting the stupid message from these ads.

    I guess society has really gone downhill since slavery was abolished and we broads got the vote.

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    • Robin says:
      9 April 2009 at 8:55 pm

      Yeah. If they’re meant to be tongue-in-cheek, they missed the mark.

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