5 Worst perfume commercials

Dr Prem Digital Healthcare Marketing

Consumers are inclined to ignore commercials unless they are eye-catching, colorful or feature a famous celebrity. Another reason is to laugh at the absurdity of a commercial and what they deem is the advertiser’s failings. Some commercials completely miss their intention of wooing consumers and instead encourage them to change channels. Some adverts are so bad that there is no question they do not belong on TV. The editing may be average; the advert may veer off point from the product, the characters are cheesy etc. There are numerous things that can go wrong with a commercial and it is due to lack of foresight on the part of the director or the person in charge.

Here is a list of advertisements that necessitate a ‘pathetic’ award to be given to the director.

‘Unbreakable’ Perfume Ad

 

Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom released a unisex fragrance called ‘Unbreakable’ meant to symbolize their relationship. The ad featured the couple behaving rather intimately. In the commercial, Kardashian says, ‘There’s something sexy about a couple sharing a scent’, as she gropes her topless husband. They imagined viewers would construe their actions as being in love but their ‘love’ is hard to take seriously, when they are obviously trying too hard. Viewers repeatedly called their ad the cheesiest they have ever seen. Tacky, cringe worthy and soft core porn rebukes followed.

Lamar comes across as uncomfortable in his bare skin and in his interactions with his wife, Khloe doesn’t act any better, the impression she gives is that of a little girl playing in front of a camera. When she tries to pull off lovey dovey moves like blowing a kiss, it oozes false.

‘Soft yet powerful, strong but sensual’ none of the words are expressed as actions by the two ‘actors’. Moreover, their movements are nothing special to speak of hell they even repeated the whole back hug and head rub action twice in the ad. It is completely lacking in originality and style. Just what else can you expect from a couple? People says the celebs are using their romance and popularity to cash in.

‘Radiance’ Perfume Ad

 

A young star is avoiding the paparazzi? so what? The ad starts with the overdone celebrity escaping her own fame. The singer walks briskly until she stumbles upon a fortune teller storefront. She pushes aside the sparkly beaded door. Yes, apparently from all the shiny in the ad from her dress to the bead door, the viewers have to guess that it ties to her ‘Radiance’ perfume, meaning illuminated and sparkly. ‘Do you want me to tell you your future?’ the psychic asks, surprisingly not as mysterious but more model-looking than we would like. But then, everything has to have a glow!

Britney stares into the brilliant globe expressionlessly before getting up while the voiceover says, ‘No thanks. I choose my own destiny.’ Britney then stands on the smoke street and advises the viewer to choose their own destiny. Right, so how does it relate to the perfume? Tag lines have to be catchy and memorable to sell the perfume’s image and pierce its target audience. The ad barely connects to the image of the perfume, whose bottle is pretty. It just delivers a lot of clichés in a poor hackneyed idea. Topped with a meaningless, redundant tagline, the ad falls on its face. The neon fluorescent mist is the only thing connecting to the bottle.

‘Truth Or Dare’ Perfume Ad

Dr Prem Web Design and Development

 

Madonna has resorted to recycling old music videos to maintain the idea she has a ‘youthful’ image. We see the 53 year old woman rolling around in her underwear on television and making those sexy faces that were once attractive on her younger self. Ewwww! She even touches herself dressed in salacious underwear.

A remixed version of her song ‘Girl Gone Wild’ plays in the background and apparently, Madonna is acting the part quite forgetting that at her age, she can no longer be considered a girl. If seeing an elderly woman in a corset is not enough to gross viewers out, we are blinded by the horrible lighting and editing. Did they get a college dropout to be the director? Grainy black and white images interjected with sporadic white flashes and bad camera movements. Continuous haphazard shots of Madonna in different poses worsened by the double effect that subjects us to twice the horror of old age. And the color goes from black and white to darker and grey. It seems as if they took an old movie before the advent of color and modern technology and used it as a source base. Literally forgetting present day’s audience!

Reb’l Fleur Perfume Ad

Symbolism is a useful story telling tool to create a product’s identity. Sometimes ads tend to go overboard and produce something that feels like a glorified class play. In the case of Rihanna’s Reb’l Fleur Commercial, many fans grinded their teeth in distaste. Some believe the flapping pink feathers on her represents a uterus. Then there are those who believe she is channeling the aura of a flamingo. Either way, the fans shake their heads in wonder as they see their idol prance across the garden of a large estate in a skimpy gown. Then, a mirror stands before her leading to the dark realm. She enters where everything is black. Does she do anything different in her dark persona? Nope, the same supposedly sexy face is carried on to the dark realm, where she likes touching herself and looking into mirrors. Seriously, whoever directed this hated ‘Alice in Wonderland’ is enough to caricaturize the movie. Her eyes are then covered by two different men and since she is obviously not turned on enough by that. She has to rub two different perfume bottles against herself. Subsequently, the entire movie is reversed and Rihanna returns to her little feathery nest. Aside from playing up Rihanna’s good/bad identity crisis, it is supposed to entice fans to the dark side. Well, both sides appear relatively the same including the weird acting so fans do not bite!

‘HEAT’ Perfume Ad

Beyonce is a sexy seductress with curves that are reminiscent of a Greek Goddess! And in her ad for her new perfume ‘HEAT’, she shows off that salacious side of her, in the entire ad. Her temptress personality is the crux of the ad, the only side Beyonce fans know.

Amorous crimson drapes everything including the mist. A little monotonous, as some might see it. She stands up and begins walking down a hallway, touching herself. Burns a trail on the wall. Yes, she is hot, as if we didn’t understand that from her tantalizing body and seductive walk and sweat kissed cleavage! Dances against the wall, more body caresses. Evidently, she likes ‘appreciating’ her own body or staring in some soft core porn. Dances rather lazily as if the heat is frying her brain, to the song ‘Fever’, a raspy rendition that makes one think of a sore throat. More cleavage show, leggy advert with Beyonce’s dress slipping off, the ad ends with the tagline, ‘Catch the Fever!’. Considering the things it made Beyonce do, fans will shy away from a possible affliction!

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