Absurd Ad of the Day: Chanel No. 5
Posted: October 15, 2012 Filed under: Advertising | Tags: Brad Pitt, Chanel, Chanel No. 5, George Clooney, Keely Galgano, There You Are 115 CommentsBrad Pitt is now hawking Chanel No. 5.
Just let that sink in for a moment.
If you missed the monologue because you were too occupied staring at a pretty man in dire need of a haircut, here it is:
It’s not a journey.
Every journey ends, but we go on.
The world turns and we turn with it.
Plans disappear, dreams take over,
But wherever I go, there you are.
My luck, my fate, my fortune
Chanel No. 5
Inevitable.
So that’s nonsense, essentially. And I find it a little strange coming from a man.
That being said, the ladies love them some Brad; so the chances this commercial flops aren’t great. For me, however, the ad (teased by industry publications for some time) fell flat. And if I were to do the casting, I would go in another direction.
Chanel No. 5 is the ultimate in women’s fragrance and synonymous with the highest of class. Perhaps this is my personal preference, but if I were to cast one of Hollywood’s leading men to be the face of such a classic, I would instinctively approach George Clooney. There’s just something about that ageless wonder and his salt-and-pepper locks that screams class and would shine in black and white.
Casting aside, I’m not sure a male face of Chanel No. 5 is necessary in the first place. Though it remains brand relevant, conjuring images of timelessness and luxury, it feels a bit forced.
Regardless, I am sure this accomplishes what Chanel set out to do. With an ad that will certainly circulate the web and incite chatter both good and bad, Chanel No. 5 will be top-of-mind for consumers as we approach the holiday shopping season.
I leave you with this gratuitous photo of George Clooney (swoon) cuddling a puppy:
the hook: on brands and media 
I hear that! Brad Pitt nice. Chanel nice. Brad + Chanel not nice. A double positive isn’t like a double negative me thinks. Ah well, the two products are big enough for this not to hurt.
I agree. Although Brad and Chanel are amazing. The two mixed is not something that works well. Especially when Brad looks like he’s getting ready to go on safari with that hair and beard-ish nonsense.
Boring Ad. hehehe. Doesn’t attract me to buy the product because its BP
Congrats on being Freshly Pressed.
of all the men in the world they pick Brad Pitt?! My first pick would have been Daniel Craig…with the impending launch of the new Bond movie, someone didn’t do their homework to tap into this lucratively ridiculously brilliiant co-branding, marketing opportunity…seriously Chanel. Brad Pitt is washed up, he looks like a lonely drifter from no where in desperate need of a real hair cut with real scissors. I’ll bet his current hair cut costs more than my mortgage payment. Chanel – do you market search, this ain’t your market. high end, hot men – sounds more like cologne I’ll be buying
Daniel Craig? Sweet googa-moogly, YES. Brad Pitt? Even without watching the commercial I’m put in mind of those “now look at me now look away” Old Spice commercials (or their parodies).
Daniel Craig, with “Skyfall” coming out next month? Sweet googa-moogly, YES.
This is advertising, it’s not meant to make sense.Pitt has to male money like everyone , especially to support Angie’s collection of kids.
And btw, Chanel makes a number of men’s colognes and this is sort of an indirect way of selling those too.
They have experts in marketing deciding who to use to sell more stuff and apparently thought that Pitt would do a better job than George Clooney and I’d have to agree. Pitt is practically married to Angie and for some reason SHE is admired by a lot of females.So when you see Pitt you also think Angie. Clooney? I couldn’t even name his gf or tell you what she looks like.
This is all about sales and not who I think would be good. Pitt just has a lot more going for him to sell things. He’s a well known good looking actor who’s married to a well known actress. There’s also a side angle with the kids with Pitt looking like some family man. So Pitt has a lot more positives in is column to make people buy tings than CClooney.
Rusty, you are missing the point. The concept may have looked good on paper, but in reality, it failed miserably, as you can see from the public opinion about the ad here or elsewhere. The ad has been universally panned and I yet have to meet a single person who’d say that they are going to buy the perfume on the strength of this ad. I don’t understand your reasoning here. Basically, you are saying that this marketing campaign works because it was formulated by experts instead of admitting that the campaign failed.
I vote for Clooney… Pitt did it for 7 Mil… Angelina would have been a good choice. The lighting guy was being interesting not interested. That was the main flaw technically. Pitt has a good voice but didn’t have the passion as mentioned above. Congrats on the FP
He looked bored shitless. The advert would of been better if he had his top off. Still and odd choice for Chanel to pick him.
Yeah he looked even more bored than Bill Murray selling Suntory Whiskey.
Superb blog . thank god I found it 🙂
Bonus points for the puppy! HAHAHA but you’re right, I agree. Chanel has managed to get everyone talking about Chanel no.5 right before the gift giving season takes off. A job well done, I think.
Tom Cruise should have made the commercial – he rings ‘all’ the bells on sexuality
Tom Cruise?? Really?? Wow…
Reblogged this on therealnewgirl and commented:
I dont get what all the fuss about brad pitt is, personally i feel he’s pretty gross, not pretty! And the long hair and weird beard going on is a definate no no. The adverts stupid too…
Swoon indeed, George would have been a better casting decision, he is a classy man that one, and in black and white he is even more the romancer.
Hi. Congrats on getting onto freshly pressed. George Clooney is busy selling us coffee. I am a Brad Pitt fan so I was looking at him more than hearing any of the words or thinking about anything else:) but I enjoyed reading this post. I mentioned this ad and about other beautiful men in my blog today https://flyingbubbles.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/beautiful-manbeautiful-perfume/
Cheers…
Chanel No.5 has good has brilliant marketing techniques….
I agree with your take on it!
Congrats on Freshly Pressed! 🙂
Check mine out too?
Cheers! 😀
I’m sad that the Lagerfeld fan isn’t in this ad somehow. Brad Pitt looks like he did a particularly smelly fart and its making him have a bit of an existential moment. I hate when that happens.
Community Channel did the best parody of this ad:
That is GREAT lol
Let’s all stand in corners!!!!! Awesome!
Tom Hiddleston should have done this ad. He’s handsome beyond belief and his voice is like honey to the ears…he could read the entire phone directory and keep me mesmerized.
Totally agree with whatever you’ve said. Some brands have their own standing in the market. The brand speaks for itself; Chanel being one of them didn’t need this ad where brad is giving his testimony! Glad i got to read this.
Hee Hee I knew ET would like this one!
I love Brad, I saw the commercial and thought it was Lame.
lmbo that was too funny!!!
I first read the text on your blog and then I watched the commercial. I was expecting something bad from the moment I read about Brad Pitt doing a Chanel No 5 ad, but this is stupid. At least it didn’t cost as much as the one shot by Baz Luhrman with Nicole Kidman. I don’t get it: do these ads truly significantly increase their revenues? Most people have heard of Chanel No 5 and who genuinely loves it will not forget it, I am certain. So why all this money into marketing and hiring Hollywood (male) stars to promote it?
I totally agree! The way he was speaking, reminded me of his role as Chad in “Burn After Reading”.
ciao!
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”
Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)
the name is brad, the rose chanel and any other name did not get the attention…the publicity campaign worked.
thebestdressup
i just don’t get it. chanel no.5 is one of perfumes i use and i still prefer a leading lady for a chanel ad no matter what.
I agree, it is a ladies perfume.
Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed!
So if I buy this perfume, Brad Pitt will leave Angie and fly to my side? Pfft. Whatever. The ad biffs on several levels. 1) It’s a perfume ad. I’m a woman. I don’t want to smell like a man. Why are they trying to make me associate with a man? And it’s esoteric and boring, like those Calvin Klein Obsession commercials from the ’80s. Which almost make some sense, in comparison. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm11CJIZTsM
couldn’t agree more!!! I saw that advert with Brad Pitt yesterday and went “uuuuuu???” totally absurd! absolutely marketing gimmiky for me! what was that all about?
Good observation. However, I would like my Chanel #5 on him and take a good sniff. Of course I might find out he is a little too human. The image in my mind is much better.
Reblogged this on Vivacious Vixens and commented:
What do you think, ladies? Is there really a need for a man’s face (although) gorgeous to keep up sales for the legendary perfume? I think we should keep Marylin Monroe, she’s the icon of No. 5 after all.
Since people call me Chanel Number 5, I feel inclined to say that I didn’t know that Brad felt this way about me for so long now. I guess I should have returned those phone calls he made a while back…
Brad Pitt has always been better as quirky than leading man or sex symbol for me. He simply lacks gravitas. This commercial was hilarious by way of how people taking themselves too seriously are hilarious. That being said, he’s as pretty as he’s ever been.
🙂
Thank goodness it’s not just me! Perfume ads are one of those things that regularly get me shouting at the TV, but I saw this last night and thought even Brad looked bored.
Totally agree: boring ad, attractive products but unattractive match; wrong choice. But they got us talking about it, didn’t they? The damage is done 😉
Hahahaha You are so right!
Bad hair notwithstanding, Brad Pitt could hawk me anything. I am not hating at all on his decision to back Chanel No. 5.
Forget about Brad. I just want to go buy a puppy if it comes with a side of George. 🙂
PS, congrats on being freshly pressed!
I’m with you, that whole ad was just weird. Even though I *knew* it was about the perfume, I couldn’t help thinking, “Why is he talking about Angelina?”
Haha, you probably just sold a whole bunch of Chanel to a whole lot of ladies that don’t find Brad Pitt as hot as George Clooney. You’re welcome, Chanel!
I literally just saw the ad on tv, then ten minutes later read this on FP. My husband and I looked at each other with a What the heck expression. Seriously – Brad Pitt pushing Chanel No 5? I’m a woman who used to drool after Brad and that has completely turned me off the perfume!
I see that Brad Pitt will be dressing up as David Spade (circa Joe Dirt) for Halloween. How nice for Angelina and his kids.
I see your George Clooney with a puppy, and I raise you a David Hasselhoff with two puppies: http://www.boiseweekly.com/Cobweb/archives/2010/07/21/im-hooked-on-a-feelin-that-the-hoff-is-going-to-get-fried
It’s kinda creepy…it was probably his grandmother’s fragrance.
Exactly! And if they’re aiming for class and still want to go with Brad, they could’ve at least done something with his hair. Oy.
So true. I haven’t seen this ad before, but even before I read what you wrote about it, I had to start laughing like 3 seconds into the video – it’s completely ridicolous, like… seriously?
Well I guess it could have been worse..like Ron Jeremy or JLo (sorry im a hater). It would be nice to see David Beckham, in the nude, swimming in a bottle of Chanel….far away from Posh Spice. Heck I would even go with Prince Harry a la Las Vegas!
I don’t quite get the tvc 😦
Stand up comedian lee Mack commented on these sort of ads several years ago; they’re complete nonsense and tell the audience nothing about the brand or its values, unless of course they’re trying to say that it smells of nothing in particular – here’s a link to a video of Lee Mack’s stand up routine.
also check out his routine about being so cockney it hurts
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