The spot for Dolce & Gabbana The One Mysterious Night.
22 Comments
Leave a comment, or read more about commenting at Now Smell This. Here's our privacy policy, and a handy emoticon chart.
Leave a reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Posted by Robin on 22 Comments
The spot for Dolce & Gabbana The One Mysterious Night.
Leave a comment, or read more about commenting at Now Smell This. Here's our privacy policy, and a handy emoticon chart.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Let’s hear it for the boys….definitely not targeted for women.
Yep.
Is that a thing among rich young Arab men, sharing perfume experiences? I found this ad extremely odd. This ad would sell perfume? I feel provinicial, and now my spell check isn’t sure how to spell provinicial… LOL. Clearly I need to quit whining and broaden my horizons…
meridifay,
It is very much a thing for men of all ages in the Middle East to avidly shop for and share fragrance. And coffee. Or tea. And smoking in the hubble bubble shops through the night. Sans women as usual.
This is a tidied up version including the tuxedos.
Not an indictment on culture, just what I have experienced first hand.
I think it seems odd in the West because it isn’t about using fragrance to market yourself to the opposite sex, and that’s pretty much what we’re used to.
The few ads we see here that aren’t about sex, but are geared to men, generally involve sports, or cars, or both, or sometimes men conducting business in suits, or walking through their luxury apartments, etc etc.
Good point, Robin. It’s definitely a different take on both male friendship and fragrance marketing than I’ve seen. And I can appreciate it for that.
I think my problem with it is if feels like they found the palest, most European-looking “Arab” guys they could to represent that ethnicity. The shopkeeper guy and the “waiter” look like straight-up white guys. D&G have whitewashed the whole vignette to make it “universal,” which seems like a practice that should no longer be acceptible.
I’m pretty sure I can admire a good-looking guy from anywhere in the world. ☺️
Take a look at the imagery here, from a Middle Eastern owned brand:
http://hauteliving.com/2014/01/sheikh-majeds-fragrance-kitchen-now-available-exclusively-bloomingdales-dubai/436849/
Don’t even think I am trying to defend D&G — I haven’t any desire to defend D&G from anything. But using European looking models to represent your product appears to be pretty universal — you can find it being done anywhere and everywhere.
Yeah, I saw that when I lived in Madagascar, too. The palest folk with the straightest hair and finest features were the models. I just feel like the time for such representation should be past.
Oh, can’t argue with that.
Oh, wow. These guys in the link definitely look as if they are about to play (american) football just as soon as the photo shoot wraps.
I totally see what you mean, Robin.
Wherps, wrong spot.
Gah, no, its fine. I am pre-coffee….obviously….????
I’m not arguing your point, but I wanted to say that my father’s family and my extended family are all from the middle east, and we are all light to olive skinned. Most people don’t guess that I am arab (half), but people from there always know. I’ve never been out of the country but I imagine there are reginal differences.
That is all true too!
This is probably not supposed to be a funny ad, but when started spraying themselves, I laughed out loud. It was like a skit from Saturday Night Live.
They
I laugh at most fragrance ads: I am not a good consumer
I wonder how many shopkeepers would let someone stick their hands and face into a zillion dollars worth of saffron.
Excellent point!
I appreciate the whole discussion thread here. Very interesting. Male bonding doesn’t have to just be about killing things and going as faster than is safe…
Truth, I wish perfume were the answer to everything.
my eyes I have no problem watching these guys test perfume