Dolce & Gabbana Perfume Adverts

Over the last month, the commercial breaks have been packed with adverts for perfume and cologne. There have been some dire offerings and a few great spots, the two that have really stuck with me have been for Dolce & Gabbana, advertising The One, male and female fragrances.

They are both constructed in similar ways, shot in opulent black and white with a classic jazz record as a soundtrack. Both focus on one attractive celebrity, their exposure to the press as a sign of adoration and compliment, and each conclude with a transformation into colour with the flash bulbs. Matthew McConaughey and Gisele Bundchen star.



McConaughey's follows him from the car as he looks weary (but still cool!), he enters his palacial apartment and, after removing his shirt, reclines on an expensive sofa. Colour floods the screen as suddenly he is photographed from what can only be a previously invisible group of paparazzi. His face breaks into a smile.

It is as if he can only exist with the affirmation of his importance. He is placed in a pose and situation that would never occur, simply to display his body. The overall affect is to portray him as a needy narcissist, perhaps living in his own imagination.



Bundchen is portrayed quite differently. Apart from an opening scene where she poses purely for the camera, the rest of the spot takes place as if on a stage. Her dressing room is lit against this black backdrop, and she continues a dialogue with the make-up artists around her as she fusses about her appearance. Finally she walks out into the photography and a similar wash of colour drenches the screen.

The impression is one of an insight into a model's life, glamourising it, centring her among a nameless team who's focus is on presenting her to the world, and when she is, that world revolves around her. She is placed in control, and the influx of colour confirms it.

The distance between the two adverts astounds me. There is such energy to Bunchen's, while McConaughey's is languid and voyeuristic, I wonder at how both can be advertising practically the same product within the same campaign.