September 4, 2013

"When the advertising gods cast my soul into hell as punishment for writing negative reviews..."

"... I'll probably be forced to watch a witless, artsy perfume commercial like this Dior Homme spot on an endless loop for all eternity."



"Moody monochrome images of Rob Pattinson's 'smoldering stares' will sear my eyes forever, while the clip's soundtrack — Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love' — scalds my ears like the screams of the damned."

Way, way down inside... the fiery pit of hell.

16 comments:

Dan from Madison said...

I wonder why they would work their way around "I'm gonna give you every inch of my love" but not "I'm gonna be your back door man".

JRoberts said...

I consider most fragrance commercials to be comedy. They're so over the top. At least brands like Axe (or even Old Spice with that one guy) wink at their silliness.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

I'd be interested to see a histogram showing number of video-bites plotted against duration of each clip.

They seem to run from as little as 0.25 second to as much as 5.0 seconds, on an approximate "normal" distribution.

Mostly the thing was just flashes of emotion without any logical construct of why we should buy the product. A lot like an Obama campaign.

Unknown said...

Kinda tough to be her "backdoor man" when he's facing her all the time.

Also, seems like some sort of mockery of all the guys in uniform at the reception. Dude, let's be honest. Those guys were in the Navy for 30 years. Their toenail clippings know more about "whole lotta lovin'" than some Bimmer cruising metrosexual. Get over yourself. And get rid of that stubble; you look like a jackass.

Wince said...

Oh shit, that reminds me: I left my vintage BMW convertible with the door open on the beach at the low tide line!

At least I have my skinny nymphomaniac with me.

Oh, shake for me, girl
I wanna be your backdoor man-a
Hey, oh, hey, oh/Ahh
Hey, oh, ooooooooooooooooooooooh
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Hoo-ma, ma, hey

Carol said...

nice imagery...some ordinary looking guys really can be sexy. or was he supposed to be attractive?

Ann Althouse said...

I think it's funny that this Adweek guy is SO hostile to this commercial, but you have to go to the link to understand the reasons:

1. The ad is hotly viral right now, ie, extremely successful.

2. The ad has received high critical praise.

3. The director of the ad is the son of the revered movie director Costo-Gravas.

4. Pre-existing attitude toward Rob Pattinson (who means nothing to me).

Ann Althouse said...

I showed this ad to Meade and he assumed it was the woman wearing the perfume. It's men's perfume. "Homme" ... get it?

Anyway, in real life, when a man douses himself with perfume, the script doesn't play out anything like the scene in the ad. To me, the ad is funny because I think of the real guy, with pictures and a soundtrack like that in his head, spritzing on the cologne, hoping to score.

But this ad is probably aimed at women, who will buy cologne for their men as a gift. It's a female sexual fantasy — isn't it? — with the woman looking so cute, running, running, and that underwater stuff.

Unknown said...

wish you had included a link to the original article. :/

Unknown said...

"spritzing on the cologne, hoping to score"

-Ann Althouse


"That doesn't work at all. No matter how much you put on."

-Howard Wolowitz

Uncle Pavian said...

It would be more diabolical if it alternated with Geraldo Rivera's semi-nude selfie. Just to keep the personal grooming theme.

madAsHell said...

The only thing missing is a vinyl flesh-colored bikini.

George M. Spencer said...

Half of all men's fragrance purchases are made by women. Target audience is clearly 20somethings, not fogeys.

But not an especially well-done Howard Schatz-y swim sequence.

I like the way she swoons on the bed and flings silver on the floor. Tramp! And a besotted one. Cute.

Using this LedZep song today would have been like using a 1926 tune in a 1969 perfume ad. I can remember seeing a Prince Matchabelli TV ad around 1967 using Donovan's "Wear Your Love Like Heaven." That was radical in those days. Cadillac used "Rock 'n' Roll" back in 2002. Don't kids these days have their own hip tunes?

Saint Croix said...

I think that ad is kinda awesome. But only because Led Zeppelin is kinda awesome. Play that ad with Culture Club and it just doesn't work.

Freeman Hunt said...

It's a good, effective ad aimed at women. Notice that we don't see some man slut scoring with lots of women. We see a man depicted as desirable and devoted to one girl. And this monogamous relationship is depicted as fun, warm, attractive.

Well done. Should sell a lot of Dior Homme.

OctaneBoy said...

Of course he drives a BMW. Bros like that always drive BMWs.