We often hear a lot of noise about brilliant advertising campaigns by various big brands, the summit of which is often the highlighted competitive sport of producing the best ad for the Superbowl each year. However, there seems to be more of a taboo when it comes to spotlighting those ads where a huge corporate brand clearly gets it wrong, in this case in what is a hilarious and doubly damaging production: both superstar actor Brad Pitt and Chanel subject their brand to ridicule.
Quite what the agency handling this ad campaign were trying to achieve is beyond me, and I consider myself to be a highly intelligent individual! It appears to be a completely misguided attempt to appear all mysterious and highbrow, instead streaming forth as nothing more than total psychobabble. You only have to turn to the Twittersphere to read some searing examples that I am far from alone:
- "Brad Pitt for Chanel No. 5. Undoing three decades of hotness in 30 seconds."
- "#Chanel is THE brand.....what where they thinking?"
- "What a load of pretentious twaddle!"
- "Cringing at the new Chanel ad, Brad looks weird too!"
Now we all know that Brad can act, this is not in question. But that is way too good a job of pretending to be some wane, disoriented, spaced out hippy on a bad LSD trip backflash, reading aloud from some essay on the origin of the species, from way back in the 60's! It is equal parts hilarious and cringe-inducing ridiculousness at the same time.
"Plans disappear, dreams take over. But wherever I go, there you are. My luck, my fate, my perfume." Err, "my fortune"!
We are talking about a perfume here, Brad, right?! Are you sure these aren't lyrics from an old Grateful Dead song?!
"It's not a journey............but wherever I go, there you are." Hmph. So how do you get there, or how does "he-she-it" get there? Without some kind of journey?
"The world turns and we turn with it." Really? Oh my God! But is that world round, and if so, why don't we all fall off it, or is it a flat planar journey we are talking about, in the higher astral planes of our being? And does one have to be on drugs or have nostrils full of Chanel #5 to be able to rise to the higher planes of existence?! Holy moly! "It's in the perfume, honey, race out to the store and grab a case of #5 before they are all gone, this new ad is gonna cause a stampede at Macy's!"
Honestly, my only conclusion after being able to watch it without laughing out loud yet another time, is that is might even be a hugely condescending ad. It is so spaced out yet apparently the result of some deep contemplation (and clearly deeper pockets) and analysis, that the idea might in fact be: "yes, it's very deep and we don't expect the average Joe (and Jane) to be able to understand Brad's meaningful words, because we are Chanel and we speak to the great minds and style of our time. But even if you don't get it, it sounds so terrifically highbrow that you will want to be associated with it, even more than before."
Of course my argument is more in line with tweet example #3 above, which is that it does not sound terrifically highbrow but rather resembles one overlong stream of pure "twaddle"! I would smile wryly at a high school senior producing this in an English essay or poem, but anyone over 21 would be subject to the verbal mouthwash cleanse.
"Chanel #5. Inevitable."
Sadly, for all concerned in the making of this overly ambitious/ridiculous ad, there is but one aspect of this particular Chanel journey that is inevitable: its (imminent) end. It is horrendously inevitable that this ad is going to get yanked, sparing the public from a particularly ill-conceived distraction in the middle of their favorite TV programs! My recommendation would be to do so sooner, rather than later, if only so as to not damage Brad Pitt's brand any further. Chanel's attempt to be Prada fell flat, like Brad's hair!
It must have seemed like a marriage made in heaven, the combination of the looks and talent of superstar Brad Pitt with Chanel, an historic and still legendary brand of style.. But it just goes to show that not all dream combos work, or are even meant to work, or at worst, that someone screwed up that marriage, royally. A quickie divorce would now be the best exit! - Kevin Mc
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