Love it or loathe it, it is next to impossible to ignore Valentine’s Day. Everywhere we go, we are bombarded with images of hearts, flowers and lovesick couples staring adoringly into each other’s eyes.
Lust and love are two emotions which have been aggressively exploited for years by brand owners to sell their products- and especially in the perfume industry. Although a sneaky ploy to play on our emotions, there is no denying how successful some of these campaigns have become- proving that love, or the idea of love, is irresistible to many of us.
Some of the most beautiful, romantic campaigns over the last few years include…
Ralph Lauren’s Romance
For its fragrance ‘Romance’, Ralph Lauren released a series of adverts showing a couple locked in intimate embraces. This beautiful, emotive image speaks a thousand words.
Ralph Lauren’s Romance
DKNY the fragrance
In 1999, Donna Karan New York (DKNY) used real-life couple Esther Canadas and Mark Vanderloo to feature in adverts promoting its fragrance. The images, which show a rain-drenched Esther in a silver chain-link outfit, are reflective of the sense of excitement and anticipation we experienced leading up to the millennium.
DKNY the fragrance
Gucci’s Flora
Many in the industry claimed that the commercial for Gucci’s fragrance Flora was one of the best perfume advertisements ever. Australian model Abbey Lee wears a silk dress with floral print in the ad, which was shot by Chris Cunningham in a cornfield in Latvia. Abbey dances in the wind in a field of more than 40 000 silk flowers.
Gucci’s Flora
Chanel N° 5
Chanel N° 5 has been an iconic woman’s fragrance for decades, with even Marilyn Monroe once famously claiming that she wore nothing to bed, bar the fragrance. The advertising campaigns have evolved over the years, but the classic glamour and romance they depict have remained unchanged. Below is an example of a vintage Chanel N° 5 print ad, followed by the 2003 campaign featuring actress Nicole Kidman. The commercial for this ad was shot by Baz Luhrmann, who directed Nicole in Moulin Rouge.
Vintage: Chanel No 5
Modern Day Chanel No 5