Brad Pitt Chanel #5 Stinker

by The Copy Nazi Banned
14 replies
Clive James writing in The Telegraph -

Have you seen Brad Pitt in the Chanel No5 commercial? "It's not a journey," he murmurs. "Every journey ends. But we go on." All that poetry, and those little outcrops of facial hair to go with it! And those hooded eyes, that ever so slightly pouting mouth!

But of course you've seen it. It's all over television like mould, and if you dial "Brad Pitt" on YouTube, his Chanel commercial is the very first thing that comes up. You can study it repeatedly while you imagine the creative conference at which some bright spark pointed out that the idea of the "journey" has long ago been worked to death, but that there might be some novelty in asserting that this particular adventure is not a journey.

No wonder that the writers at advertising agencies are called "creatives". Get the right team of creatives together and they will give you the sonorous monologue that continues to unfold as the Brad Chanel commercial rolls on. "But wherever I go, there you are." Gradually you realise that by "you" he means his own smell. He is speaking through his armpit. At the centre of it all is the radiant force of a fathomless self-regard. This is a man who feels about his own screen presence the way that the emperor Nero felt about his talent for the violin.

A compressed crash-course in how to ham it up while scarcely moving a muscle, the production ends with a full-screen shot of Brad so that he can deliver a single-word sentence: "Inevitable". But what was inevitable? That somebody would pay him a fortune to imitate Nicole Kidman?
Clive James on Brad Pitt's Chanel No5 commercial - Telegraph
#brad #chanel #pitt #stinker
  • Profile picture of the author Dietriffic
    It has to be that bad on purpose.

    No?

    I mean, it's got us talking about it.

    I can see the proposal to the marketing department. Whatever happens, get people talking about this.

    Okay. We'll make it really bad. But, in such a way that people won't be able to determine if it was meant to be bad or not.
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  • I think Mel may have nailed it.

    It's so bad...ironically it becomes good.

    All will be revealed after Christmas when the sales figures are published.

    Do you get the feeling that zillions of wife's and girlfriends are going to open a bottle of No 5 on christmas day because their partners want them to think that they are Mr Pitt (and be beside themselves with lust).

    Or maybe they're hoping their beloved ones will become Angelina (who makes us chaps beside ourselves with lust).

    The worst ever perfume ad campaign might be responsible for Christmas dinner being late.

    While we recover from all the exertions.

    Luckily, I quite like the smell of No 5 (special note - don't drench your wife or girlfriend in it - try and make it last till new years eve and wham bam start again).


    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author NickN
      My girlfriend loves Brad Pitt, so of course she tried defending the ad when I said, "Sooo... what the hell is he talking about?"

      Anyway, though it's nonsensical, I think it's doing the job it set out to do.

      P.S. Here's another spoof -- this one courtesy of Conan:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6sw_-ewTNM
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      • Profile picture of the author NickN
        Hmm... I thought all you had to do to post videos was copy and paste the link. No?
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        • Originally Posted by NickN View Post

          Hmm... I thought all you had to do to post videos was copy and paste the link. No?

          Try it using http:// instead of https://
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          Marketing is not a battle of products. It is a battle of perceptions.
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          • Profile picture of the author NickN
            Originally Posted by Joe Ditzel View Post

            Try it using http:// instead of https://
            That doesn't work either.

            Thanks, though.
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        • Profile picture of the author Andrew Gould
          Originally Posted by NickN View Post

          Hmm... I thought all you had to do to post videos was copy and paste the link. No?
          Get rid of the http bit altogether and make sure the parse links and embed media boxes are ticked (they're just below the Submit Reply and Preview Post buttons).

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          Andrew Gould

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          • Profile picture of the author NickN
            Thanks, Andrew! Looks like the "http" part was the problem.
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  • ...and at Chanel's world headquarters in Paris they are chalking up a sale of No 5 to Nick.

    So he can dab it on his girlfriend on Christmas day.

    The marketing department are saying - "What a f****** genuis idea it was paying Pitt all that money. Just to talk a load of b******. Because now everyone is talking about it. And the women love him. Their partners have got no choice they just have to buy her a bottle"

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Dietriffic
    Of course, if your wife/girlfriend can get past the marketing, she'd probably enjoy a bottle of Jo Malone Pomegranate much more than No.5
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  • (right chaps now we know what to get Mel for Christmas...)


    It'll be the first time I've ever said "Darling, I've bought you a pomegranate..."
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    • Profile picture of the author Dietriffic
      Originally Posted by Steve The Copywriter View Post

      (right chaps now we know what to get Mel for Christmas...)


      It'll be the first time I've ever said "Darling, I've bought you a pomegranate..."
      lol... I'm still getting through the bottle my husband bought me.

      You probably can't get it easily outside the UK, but you don't have that excuse, Steve
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  • ...Mel splash it on throughout November and you'll save him all the agony in thinking "Blimey, what will I get her for Christmas?"


    (if that doesn't work surely our friends in the US of A can find a way in getting you a few bottles lol)

    (if none of those work, let me know, and I'll nip off to the John Lewis store and get you some - providing I don't have to do a Brad Pitt type Ad on the telly - it would be a bit uncomfortable talking nonsense and squeezing my pomegranates...)
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