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Fri 18 Oct, 2002 02:25 pm
"YSL Goes Full-Frontal with Men's Fragrance Ad
Fri Oct 18,10:38 AM ET
PARIS (Reuters) - American
designer Tom Ford has set a new milestone for sex in advertising with the print commercial for the new Yves Saint Laurent men's fragrance, which features a reclining full-frontal nude male model.
The black-and-white publicity shot for the M7 fragrance, which stars former martial arts champion Samuel de Cubber, will be published from Oct. 24 in a handful of fashion magazines, including the French edition of Vogue.
So-called porn chic has swept the advertising industry in recent years, but no company had previously dared to go all the way in showing a full-frontal nude.
"Perfume is worn on the skin, so why hide the body?" Ford, YSL's artistic director, said in a statement. "The M7 campaign is really pure, it's a very academic nude."
Advance peeks of the X-rated shot are already causing a stir in local media and could lead to a repeat of the protests triggered by the Yves Saint Laurent campaign for the relaunch of its women's perfume Opium two years ago.
Britain's Advertising Standards Authority ordered YSL to remove the billboard commercials, featuring model Sophie Dahl reclining in the nude, because they were "sexually suggestive."
Ford said the M7 campaign was a homage to a now infamous picture of Saint Laurent posing naked -- though with his legs modestly crossed -- for the photographer Jeanloup Sieff in 1971.
"I wanted to subtly remind people that the house of Yves Saint Laurent has always been a front-runner in presenting provocative images," he said.
Ford, who took over the design of YSL's ready-to-wear and perfume divisions in 2000, is offering mainstream media a toned-down version showing de Cubber from the waist up.
The model's hairy chest contrasts sharply with the waxed pectorals of the Australian modeling sensation Travis Fimmel, who stars in the campaign for Calvin Klein's new scent Crave.
"I wanted to show a man who represents a natural and relaxed image of male beauty," explained Ford.
YSL is owned by the Italian design house Gucci, an affiliate of Pinault Printemps Redoute. "
What do you think of the idea? Is full frontal nudity necessary to sell fragrance? Ladies- Are you going to be reading your significant other's magazine when he is sleeping?
Imagery has
replaced facts in advertising. It's sad in a way but in another it just reflects the times and human nature. It started with
David Oglivy's Hathaway shirt man (what on earth does an eye patch on a good looking model have to do with a shirt) back in
1951 and has now become the rule rather than the exception.
I suspect the ad was going for a "shock jock" publicity
stunt and I hope the perfume doesn't sell.
Nothing against nudity but I love propaganda and marketing and would like
to see real substance as opposed to a simplistic appeal for shock value.
I don't think nudity is necessary to sell perfume, but why not? Not sure how the article writer equated nudity with porn. I'd say that's downright silly. European mags have had nudes for decades. Nothing pornographic about it. Sometimes it's downright funny.
On the subject of fragrances, I'm just out the door now to view a smell-0-vision production where, it appears, the 'artist' will bathe us in odors somehow matching scenes from Casablanca, The Wizard of Oz and a couple of other films. I've been roped into this by a friend associated with BBC radio, who will subsequently call me for a far flung reporter interview. But I'll give you folks the goods before those hoity toity brits get it.
A thought: 4 postings and 350+ viewing for this thread. That's why they use sex.
frontal nudity
Fascinating Mapleleaf - Sexually explicit ads have been in vogue for years in Europe - maybe the marketing gurus in the US are just beginning to catch on that SEX does sell and they are going to see just how far they can go.
What's left to shock?
Really?
The only thing that gets no press is the penis.
So it had to happen, eventually.
Mapleleaf - I suspect part of the reason for the number of 'views' is the date of the original posting. There was barely anything here at that point. Though i don't recall 'seeing' it then, I'm sure I looked at it many times trying to navigate the site at the beginning.
I have not read Harper's Bazaar for many years. Actually, I never bought it, but used to look at it in MDs offices. High fashion is DEFINITELY not my thing! Anyhow, I was in an MDs office yesterday, and there amongst the medication booklets and Golf Magazines was a brand spanking new Harper's Bazaar.
I picked it up, and had the strangest reaction. I would not say "shock", because at this point in my life, I don't think that I could hear or see anything that would shock me. I think that the feeling was more sadness, mixed with a little disgust. The entire magazine was selling one thing. SEX. Upscale sophisticated sex, yes. Slick sex. But strip away the couture, and that magazine was as down and dirty as Penthouse.
What I saw in that magazine was a personification of woman as object that I had not seen since the 1950s.
PDiddle the penis got a lot of press when Lorena Bobbit bobbed it but it was serious press. Except women laughed an men cried.
The viewings are because this thread is the number 2 result on google for m7 and full frontal nudity (or some similar search string).
Well - I guess Craven's comment proves that computers really are dumb.....
If it was full rear nudity then I wonder what the fragrance would smell like?
I don't see any reason not to use male full frontal for advertizing. And Craven, I agree I love to watch the ads, enjoy their cleverness. But an image that creates a certain mood or feeling is, I expect much more powerful (thereby leading to sales, which is where the action is) than words or cleverness will ever be. I'm going out to look for the ad. Which mags will it be in?
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=m7+full+frontal+nudity
That is one of the search queries that has driven visits here, we are #3 on that query.
Blatham, I can't wait to hear all about it. Fill us in please.
sittin' on the subway tonight coming home, looking around, realize i'm looking at an ad with michelangelo's david on it. not a new ad, nothing outrageous. i remember when david was considered risque here. of course i have no recollection of what the ad was for.
This will bring up the goods...
http://saltyt.antville.org/stories/183992/
I am untroubled by mature nudity in most any context. This particular ad wouldn't make me pause for even an instant, except to applaud the decline of the repugnant cultural double standard.
The use of sexuality to sell products can at times bother me, but that is either because of idiotic non-relevancy or because of deceitfulness (buy a Ford, get a girl).
The sexualization of minors (eg, Brittany Spears) seems a more questionable dilemma. Minors (all humans from crib to grave) are sexual creatures and I'd rather see this aspect of us open rather than demonized as it has been in Christian culture. But clearly the advertising agencies and product manufacturers are not doing this to be 'progressive' or 'liberate' anyone.
All of this being said, I acknowledge that as a male I likely miss a full appreciation of the real consequences for women in this culture of the sexualization of their bodies.
can ya just imagine how disappointed most of those searchers for full frontal nudity are when they arrive here?
that thought had me laughing all morning.
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