I decided to look at Perrier's
advertising iAd app created by the french studio Ogilivy. In 2010 Perrier launched its
limited edition campaign with Dita Von Teese to accelerate sales and to make
the brand sexy again and recruit younger consumers.
The app is an interactive
video website giving the viewer the chance to follow Dita Von Teese around the
Perrier mansion playing seduction games. The advertising techniques quite
obviously use Dita in a sexual manner to sell their product. There are several
games from a strip tease to a game of sexy dice. In this game depending on what
you roll Dita will do the forfeit, it could be anything from licking her lips
to squeezing her breasts. If you are lucky enough to roll a 'Double Perrier'
Dita takes her dress off and pours a bottle of Perrier all over her
breasts. Coward
mentions, "In this society, looking has become a crucial aspect of sexual
relations, not because of any natural impulse, but because it is one of the
ways in which domination and subordination are expressed." (pg
34) Here they
portrayed Dita to be submissive to the male, they have created a kind
of a fantasy game for the male, which increases interest in the product. They
are playing with unconscious sexual urges and desires.
“The camera in contemporary
media has been put use as an extension of the male gaze at women on the
streets. Here, men can and do stare at women,” (pg 33) The advert definitely
relates to what Coward is saying in quite a literal sense, one of the games
allows you to photograph Dita in the darkroom which is blatantly for the men’s
pleasure only, once again showing dominance and a sense of power, whilst the
female is powerless living in a mans world.
Even though the advert is
highly sexual and quite obviously targeted at men, the campaign will entice
women too. Coward writes, “women identify with similar images. A narcissistic
Identification is supposed to take place; women looking at glamorous and highly
sexualised images of other women because these images are meant to function like
a mirror. The Image like a mirror reflects back to women their own fascination
with their own image.” This means that the advert works on two different
levels, it obviously seduces men in a sexual way and also plays with women’s
emotions on their own image. This creates some pressure on women in today’s
society; they are constantly seeking perfection playing up to what men want.
“Every minute region of the
body is now exposed to this scrutiny by the ideal. Mouth, hair, eyes, eye
lashes, nails, fingers, hands, skin, teeth, lips, cheeks, shoulders, arms,
legs, feet,” (pg 38) what Coward says can be seen in the campaign, in the dice
game you have the chance to see Dita stroke, lick or squeeze different body
parts, once again playing up to the males fantasy, this is giving the illusion
that women are easy to control and can be manipulated to do what men see fit.
But this relationship with women is allot different in real life to on screen,
in reality men are quite intimidated by women, Coward says, “this so-called
aesthetic appreciation of women is nothing less than a decided preference for
the ‘distanced’ view of the female body. The aesthetic appeal of women
disguises a preference for looking at women’s bodies, for keeping women
separate, at a distance, and the ability to do this. Perhaps this sex-at-a-distance
is the only complete secure relation which men can have with women. Perhaps
other forms of contact are too unsettling.” The advert allows the viewer to
build this kind of relationship making him feel secure thus drawing him into
the experience, they have used these seductive techniques to make men feel more
comfortable and at ease.
Reference : Coward, R., 'The
Look', in Thomas, J. (ed.) (2000), Reading Images, Basingstoke: Palgrave, pages
33-39
http://thisisnotadvertising.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/ogilvy-france-for-perrier-dita-von-teese-mansion-a-sexy-case-study/
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