The excitement around this year’s Fragrance Foundation FiFi Awards is starting to heat up! To mark the approach of one of the most important dates on the UK’s scented calendar, here’s my regular line-up of the short films nominated in the Best Perfume Commercial categories.
No 5 from Chanel
Classique from Jean-Paul Gaultier
La Petite Robe Noire edt from Guerlain
Nina L’Eau from Nina Ricci
Our Moment from One Direction
Si from Giorgio Armani
For once, the shortlist displays a relatively wide range of styles, from the familiar ‘glamorous woman in glamorous poses’ of the Armani to the tongue-in-cheek cutesiness of the One Direction. My soft spot for the Guerlain campaign shows no signs of hardening any time soon, but I doubt the FiFi judging panel (chaired by Richard E Grant) will be equally charmed: they gave the award to the little black dress last year, so I expect they’ll be looking to select a different winner. Could it turn out to be Chanel’s post-Brad exercise in damage limitation…?
Best Perfume Commercial – Male Fragrance
1 Million Intense from Paco Rabanne
Brit Rhythm from Burberry
Uomo from Ermenegildo Zegna
Invictus from Paco Rabanne
Le Male from Jean-Paul Gaultier
Luna Rossa Extreme from Prada*
Oh dear. The last twelve months clearly haven’t been too kind to the world of masculine scent adverts: taken as a whole, the above is an uninspired collection of exhausted cliches. That said, at least the Prada tries to tackle its subject in a somewhat less familiar way, and it deserves praise for being brave enough to dispense with a generic hunk. I have an awful feeling that the award will go to Invictus, which is easily one of the most offensive pieces of advertising I’ve encountered for quite some time. But I gather I’m in a minority on this one.
If you had to pick two winners from the above, which would they be?
The results will be announced on 15th May.
Persolaise
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* Another version of the Luna Rossa Extreme advert is in circulation; Fragrance Foundation UK haven’t specified which of the two has been shortlisted.
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* Another version of the Luna Rossa Extreme advert is in circulation; Fragrance Foundation UK haven’t specified which of the two has been shortlisted.
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Thanks, this a visual feast even though some of the cads are crud. I do really like the ad for Si. If only the perfume itself lived up to the ad!
Annemarie, yes, the Si ad does have a certain charm to it. Perhaps it will turn out to be the winner.