An Insight To The Ads Of Perfume For Lovers  

~ by Sophie Ko & Anita Chien

     The promotion of the combined perfumes for lovers is just a tricky game played by the sales to capture those boys and girls who are passionately in love.  Just like the selling of some watches, rings, or costumes for lovers, the following two ads of perfumes for lovers also take intimacy between couples as their main appeal.  Only such a connection is made between not only two sexes but also the same gender.

Through a more conventional presentation than the perfume ad of Dolce&Gabanna, Armani’s illustrates properly the idea of intimacy between two genders.  First of all, the distinctions of men or women’s perfume are made through the colors of the bottles and the carvings at the bottom of the bottle.  The dark gray one is for men, and the carvings are “he/ il,” which show male identity in different languages.  The light silver one is for women, and the carvings are “she/ elle,” which show female identity.  Also, the shapes of these two bottles are especially designed as if they could be fittingly assembled together with a lips-like convex bulging out on the smooth surface of the bottle for men and a concave on the one for women.  The matching of the two perfume bottles coincides with the seemly kissing scene in the background, which emanates an invisible attraction and undercover passion between the two individuals.  Especially through the overall color of black and white, naturally we associate it with a more old-fashioned style of courtship and old movie.  And with the male model’s head a bit forward and his hand touching the female model’s lips, such a simple kissing action further conveys the traditional masculine role aggressively taking the first step over a passive feminine character in this typical type of intimate courtship.  

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In contrast to the stereotypical presentation of gender relationship in Armani, Dolce&Gabanna’s suggests more independence of both genders and freer interplay of sexuality.  The name of the perfume for men is “Masculine,” which is darker bottle; the name of the perfume for women is “Feminine,” which is lighter bottle.  Corresponding to the two bottles, the nudes, being the most important element contributing to this impressive and gleaming picture, represents common features of men and women’s physical beauty: the muscular and well-built figure of men and the buxom and voluptuous beauty of women.  Through this exposition of human bodies under the dazzling light, moreover, we get to see an establishment of physical intimacy, not only between a man and a woman but also between men or women.  A total of eleven models are mixed with each other with some head to head and the other head to feet as well as the up-side-down position of perfume bottles, which seems to imply that some variations of sexual intercourse would add not only the fun but the intimacy between lovers. This volute circle-like image, moreover, suggest multiple possibility of sexual interplay, ranging from heterosexuality to homosexuality, from monogamy to group sex and the fast-food type of love.

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     Although these two ads show different degree of intimacy, within this big picture, both of them delicately establish a connection between the image of ads and the products themselves by making their transition with their interpretations from background to products, and then by reversing them back.  For example, first of all, it’s easy for a close-up on the facial portion of kissing to be associated with breath smell, and for a distant zooming on the wreath of naked bodies with one’s body smell.  Thus, naturally, viewers might first get the idea of fragrance through this image and think of the product itself, perfume.  Then, again, we see how the product also corresponds to the conveyed meaning of the ads.  The aluminum made bottle in the Armani’s somehow adds to the secret and abstract intimacy, and the transparent glasses in G&D’s bares its exaggerated boldness through letting the potential consumers view directly the original color of the perfume.  Here, we see the design of both products match with the atmosphere in ads very well.  In the first black-and-white advertisement, there is a concealing sense of caring affection drifting heavily in the air; in the other, the emotional impact is emanated directly from the mixture of bright yellow and dazzling light shining on the nudes.

     The theme and techniques of one advertisement might differ according to the product and many other elements of the promoting aims.  These two advertisements focus on the relationships between lovers.  To express it, the designers also pay extra attention to the shape, color, material, and name for each bottle of perfume as if endowing the perfume itself different identities and personas.  The backgrounds in two ads show excellent coherence with not only the products’ external appearance but also, more importantly, their conveyed meaning.  In conclusion, both of them have achieved one important technique in perfume advertising: to highlight the product, perfume for lovers, through many supportive and related elements of one major theme, intimacy in different aspects of love.

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