British regulators on Wednesday banned a television advert for the Yves St Laurent perfume "Belle D'Opium", upholding complaints that the dancing female star looked as if she was taking drugs.
— British regulators must not watch too many perfume adverts, eh? Read more at British regulators ban YSL perfume ad at Yahoo News.
I actually think those Brits have their priorities in order! Us puritans would be more likely to get in a tizzy about Sophie Dahl’s birthday suit in the original Opium ad than (apparent, I haven’t seen the ad) drug use.
Can’t help it, I think it’s silly. And I’m sure YSL has made sure all the media know about it — it’s a big boon, I should think, to get your ad banned. Certainly works well for Calvin Klein.
I suppose next they’ll try to ban advertising for Dior Addict , all the various incarnations of Poison (“The name of the product could incite women to kill”), and Obsession (“The product glorifies mental illness”), for starters.
In truth, they’re not completely off the mark: in both the short and long versions, the deliberate finger-against-the-forearm movement did look as if it were mimicking the injection of a drug. But they’re still being ridiculous. A perfume commercial isn’t meant to make people take illegal drugs, because drug addicts don’t have any money to spend on perfume.
Exactly and exactly.
I second both those “exactly”s
When I originally watched the ad, that movement cracked me up. I was watching a perfume commercial, so I thought she was saying “THIS is where you put the perfume” not “THIS is where you stick the needle”. Besides, when I think of YSL Opium, I don’t think of heroin junkies, I think of the opium dens of Victorian England – ala Johnny Depp in “From Hell”. Much more romantic.
This is ridiculous. The Advertising Standards Agency here is extremely sensitive, 14 complaints is a ludicrously low number of complaints to effect an ad withdrawal. It smacks of the nanny- state which doesn’t give people credit for intelligence and personal responsibility. Grr.
I’m surprised they could show the Kate Moss ads for Parisienne.
I don’t imagine that people hooked on heroin or other injected drugs will take much interest in a perfume ad. However, kids watching the ad may well get the subliminal message that injecting drugs into a vein is somehow associated with sexiness and looking really hot. I can see why the ad was banned.
Do they show the Victoria’s Secret lingerie commercials in Great Britain, like they do in the States?
As far as I’m aware, Victoria’s Secret is only sold in airports in the UK.
I’m a little surprised that there isn’t any sort of outcry about the Victoria Secret commercials ….they’re about 1/2 inch from being porno.
And that’s why they’re still allowed to play. The men love it. Now when there was the perfectly innocent lingerie ad for plus-sized models, there were complaints. That really pissed me off.
Not only do they not watch many perfume adverts, they also are apparently oblivious to any notion of modern or interpretive dance. I clicked on that ad expecting to see some wild Maenad under the influence of LSD or something, not a coiffed blonde in an evening dress.
Good grief.
It felt very Salome to me, very Dance of the Seven Veils, but then I’m sort of obsessed with the Strauss opera.
I kind of doubt the advertising-standards people know anything about opera, or art of any sort, though.
I didn’t really catch the arm thing until I watched the second or third time, and yes, that bit is borderline “inappropriate” (whatever that means… or let’s say, “unnecessary.”)
the whole thing was weird. drugged? orgasmic? just likes rolling on the floor in expensive dresses? and the finger on the arm thing was unnecessary and I get what the regulators are saying…but on the other hand: there’s plenty worse stuff going on on the telly.
Did anyone else connect to the link to the extended version and read the comments on youtube? There are responses in several other languages besides English. From what I can tell (I speak some French, and even less Spanish), most express surprise and generally seem to feel that it was an over-reaction. I guess I just find it interesting that it would create such an international stir.
Then again, as Robin pointed out, it behoves YSL to play it up!