Beauty advertising without glossy clichés: 9 videos
Margarita Virova
Promotional campaigns for cosmetics and other beauty productsto be honest, not much changed since its inception. They, as a rule, use the same promises and methods, the same camera angles and often invite the same actors and models. Evening dresses with multimeter plumes, seductive bright lips, false eyelashes, carefully finished in Photoshop, and the obligatory hot kisses as a direct consequence of the purchase of the product we find in almost every advertising campaign. The more interesting when the marks do not go the beaten track. We recall nine commercials, the customers and creators of which tried not only to sell products, but also to reflect the obvious changes in attitude to beauty.
Shiseido
"High School Girl?"
One of the brightest viral videos of 2015 - and not only in the world of cosmetics. In the course of the action, it turns out that everything is not what it seems at first glance: the girls in rewind turn into the guys, the images for which the makeup artists created. The most outstanding here, of course, is not the mastery of the latter, but the very idea of the video, which demonstrates a radical transformation with the help of makeup. This is much closer to a free and relaxed attitude to beauty and human appearance than the usual mantra that the magic tube will solve all problems.
Kenzo
"Kenzo World"
Video, which is worthy to remind him again. The director of this short masterpiece was Spike Jonze, long known in the world of advertising and music video making - in 2005 he even received the corresponding nomination for the award of the American Directors Guild. The creators of advertising concepts for perfume are faced with a particularly interesting task, since finding a visual analogue of the fragrance in colors, sounds and actions is much more difficult than simply and profitably conveying the virtues of lipstick or shadows. With a wild dance, corresponding to the image of the brand, they did not lose, but they also did without multilayered dresses, petals, hugs and silk sheets, which are in every first advertisement of fragrances.
Pantene
"#ShineStrong"
Of course, most of all I want to recall the series Always "# like a girl", but there are other examples. Here is another good social campaign that raises important and complex issues - with the authorship of the Pantene brand. For a long time, she was at the forefront of using gold standards in advertising hair products: there were always happy people in the main roles and their shiny smooth hair. In the new campaign, women are urged to stop all the time to apologize, and, for example, in the video "Labels Against Women" they analyze how gender stereotypes are born. Visual sketches tell about how much power is actually hidden in our daily actions and words - something that, unfortunately, is still not talked about.
Tom ford
"Lips & Boys"
The line of fifty lipsticks Lips & Boys was one of the most exciting launches of the Tom Ford brand, including the provocative creative and marketing moves. In the commercial, which lasts exactly a minute, on the one hand, there is nothing superfluous, and on the other - a lot of gloss and sex. Nevertheless, shades of lipstick are named after the men whom the designer decided to perpetuate in this way, so here are the lips, here are the guys - everything is very clear. Not only conventionally beautiful advertising, but also a good example of how well-thought turns a cliché into an appropriate device.
Dolce & Gabbana
"Dolce Rosa Excelsa"
Another non-standard perfume advertising shot by a great director. In general, to call a big master to make a video is one of the main methods among non-standard ones. The great Giuseppe Tornatore ("Paradiso", "Malena") put into a three-minute mini-movie all the best things that are associated with the brand: baroque pomp, interest in tradition and beauty in all its manifestations. In the story, a mother with five sons restore a family estate. Rays of sunlight, sawdust, crumbling plaster are replaced by lush green grass, elegant guests, scents from the kitchen and a huge crystal chandelier. In the final, of course, not without a love story. The role of the elegant mother of the family was played by Sophia Loren, the very embodiment of the golden age of Italian cinema - it is absolutely impossible to break away from what is happening.
Chanel
"I Love Chanel"
Photographer Solvay Sundsbo created a tribute to the famous "Vogue" cover for this ad: the girl from the picture comes to life, simultaneously showing the juicy shades of Rouge Allure lipstick. Classics meets classics: this video and four years later looks unusual. In advertising, cosmetics and fragrances are rarely used not deliberately sexualized image, but a reference to the cult image - because every such example is remembered. By the same principle, in an ad campaign of La Petite Robe Noire perfume from Guerlain, the feminine silhouette in a hat and a fluffy dress was treated - and it was great.
Dove
"Dove Pro-age"
It would be difficult to manage in this compilation without a company that has accomplished a large-scale revolution in its image thanks to a new socially oriented approach. But if many people remember about "Beauty Sketches", few people have seen this ad dedicated to the Pro-age line of products. With the release of the series, the company persistently emphasized the rejection of the anti-prefix. This linguistic refinement is also a rejection of the traditional marketing ploy. In the US, she was banned from a large-scale show with the phrase “too much skin”. However, the brand is more persistently going to openly talking about things for which "the world is not ready", and knows how to do it beautifully and delicately.
Gucci
"She Does the City"
The image of a bold, free and sexy brand, developed for Gucci after the decline in the early 90s, still holds the brand, although its implementation is not always successful. Still, the promotional film, shot by artist and director Frank Miller, is worth special attention. The company invited him as the author of "Sin City", which by that time had already become a cult film, even for those who are not fond of comics or neo-noir. As a result, the image of an expensive and luxurious brand interlaced with the aesthetics of an inexpensive film about a not very luxurious life. It turned out at least interesting, though debatable.
L'oreal
"My First Woman's Day"
This is not an advertisement, but a video dedicated to the International Women's Day, in which the transgender model Valentina Sampayo talks about herself. The fact that the conventionally beautiful girl changed her sex, the audience will know only at the very end - and this is the most accurate way to visually show what acceptance is. Although such a social initiative looks quite natural for a large brand, it is important to remember the context. The video was created in Brazil by a local advertising agency, and Valentina became one of the few representatives of the LGBT community who got the right to speak - in general, the situation in the country is deplorable. Advertising was watched and discussed for quite some time.