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Browsing by tag: perfume ads

A hand, covered in molten wax and flaming candles

Posted by Robin on 24 April 2025 Leave a Comment

There’s nothing expected about Wade and Leta’s images; instead, they create arresting, surreal landscapes imbued with a made-you-look energy. Their visual for Burning Barbershop, a scent described by D.S. & Durga as – “a fire broke out in the Curling Bros. barbershop in Westlake, N.Y. in 1891. All the shaving tonics with their spearmint, lime, vanilla, and lavender burned. A charred bottle was found half-full. It smelled like this” – depicts a hand, covered in molten wax and flaming candles, holding the perfume bottle.

— Read more in Can you smell design? at It's Nice That.

It was the most sex-charged ad

Posted by Robin on 12 July 2024 Leave a Comment

The first time I ever heard of Dolce & Gabbana was on TV. I can still replay the voice-over at the end of the original Light Blue ad reading “Dolce & Gabbana, Light Blue”. It was the most sex-charged ad on TV in my young, impressionable mind, marked by the close-ups of Gandy, the fragrance equivalent to the Calvin Klein Underwear ads most gay men my age can identify as a key part of their coming of age. Light Blue, both the men’s and women’s versions, remains one of Dolce & Gabbana’s best-selling fragrances, and it’s inarguably the most well-known, and all thanks to the campaign.

— Read more about fragrance advertising in The business of thirst: Why fragrance can always bet on sex at Vogue Business.

A well-crafted play

Posted by Robin on 4 August 2022 Leave a Comment

Armani Beauty is betting that Regé-Jean Page can do for its perfume department what Johnny Depp did for Dior (without the controversy).

[...]

Armani follows a well-crafted play in the advertising-driven world of fragrance, where a world-famous face can turn a fragrance into a blockbuster. Dior is a master of this strategy. Charlize Theron has served as the face of J’Adore Dior for two decades, Natalie Portman has held a similar role for Miss Dior since 2011, and Johnny Depp played an important role in the success Dior Sauvage since its launch in 2015.

— Read more in Armani’s big bet on Regé-Jean Page at Industry Update. (And see Why Dior Sauvage has become the best-selling perfume in the world (above any women’s fragrance) from CodeList.

A comical dramatisation of a surreal situation

Posted by Robin on 9 February 2018 2 Comments

The scenario depicted in the ad was not realistic and the tone was risqué but comedic and farcical. We considered the ad showed the male character’s attractiveness in a light-hearted, humorous way, rather than in a degrading or humiliating manner. We therefore considered viewers were likely to recognise the ad was a comical dramatisation of a surreal situation.

— UK regulator the Advertising Standards Authority rules that Paco Rabanne's peeping jane ad for Pure XS isn't too sexist to show on TV. Read more at Puig wins ASA ruling after Paco Rabanne fragrance ad receives 120 complaints at Cosmetics Business.

The heavy eyelid

Posted by Robin on 26 April 2017 10 Comments

Quartz asks why perfume ads are so weird. Hat tip to Scentalicious!

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