So what’s the story?
She’s writhing ecstatically and she’s drenched in sweat. Her gauzy bra is slipping up and her impatient thumb is tugging at her flimsy thong. Looks like she’ll be naked pretty darn quick. Must be Playboy or Penthouse, right? Nope. The open-mouthed, closed-eyed model is appearing in full-page ads in Canadian fashion and entertainment magazines to push next month’s exclusive debut at the Bay of Dior Addict fragrance.
Why, in an addiction-bedeviled world, would Dior choose the name ‘Addict’?
Dior is hoping women 18-35 get hooked on what the fragrance’s designer, Paris-based Thierry Wasser, calls an ‘oriental [combination] of vanilla, sandalwood and tonka bean.’
As for the name ‘Addict,’ and the tagline, ‘Admit it,’ Metté Engell, Dior Canada’s Laval, Que.-based director of marketing, says, ‘For us, it’s a very daring, very powerful name that echoes a unique and assertive personality. We don’t see it in the negative sense of addiction to gambling or alcohol…[but] really the idea of being addicted to fashion, to beauty, to creativity – to the Dior universe.’
Who designed the ad and why was this execution
chosen for the international campaign?
The ad was designed at Dior headquarters in Paris, using photographer Nick Knight, whose hallmark is non-static shots – hence the anything-but-subliminal suggestion that the model is in the process of disrobing.
Engell says the ‘very sexy’ execution matches the provocative nature of the product line. ‘But we don’t want to be provocative just for the sake of being provocative. Europeans understand more the synergy with…the daring new sensual attitude within the fashion world…and also Dior’s new direction in haute couture and prêt-à-porter since John Galliano became our chief designer.’
Is any backlash to the connotations of ‘addict’
anticipated?
Probably not too much, says Engell, because there were only a few mild objections when Dior Addict lipstick and nail enamel debuted at the Bay during the past year. They were accompanied by ad campaigns that were ‘similar in spirit’ to the one for the fragrance, but included only headshots.
She says there were no complaints among French focus groups to the name of the product line or the ad executions. ‘But for Canadian consumers, this is probably more of a surprise because they haven’t seen the [recent] development within fashion.’
Does the Bay believe this provocatively named product and ultra-sexy ad will benefit its brand?
Sorry, we can’t tell you because the Bay, as the euphemism goes, could not be reached for comment.
