Quote:
Originally Posted by
Dane77 
Are you guys serious? Look again ... that guy is not just "taking a deep breath", the cloud is not "orange-y rain", and the "magic moment" he's having has nothing to do with enjoying the desert view... the subliminal signals here are clumsy and exaggreated to the point of, well, plain obviousness. Without the "breathing" guy image the ad would probably have worked as an interesting and striking image - with him, and the "little guy" sprewing his stuff up all over the landscape, condensing the "dirt" into a white drop splashing down on the bottle...well... you gotta be a really hardcore perfumista to interprete that as a visual representation of the notes in the actual fragrance...
True, but.... I mean, these guys are French, dammit. They do crap like that!

Seriously - this matches the video for it, where the guy grabs the handful of orange dust and throws it up into the air to make the dry cloud, etc., etc. This is Hermès doing its usual job of *putting* too much into it. Does anybody get anything back out of it? Who cares? It looks "arty". As long as the stuff that really sells the juice is in it, too, they've got both bases covered.
If you get Hermès magazine (their "this is not a catalog, this is an art magazine" catalog), then you know that they do this stuff as their primary modus operandi. "Above all else, appear artistic." Dig around on the web, where they discuss their ads, and they'll even say what they're trying to represent, point blank (I was a total Hermèsophile as a n00b - I would drool over every written word about Hermès frags). If you've ever wondered why people cheer so much every time when LVMH fails to acquire Hermès, this is exactly why. It's just plain encouraging that some designer takes itself so ridiculously seriously that the very absurdity of it becomes yet another milestone of authentic luxury in an iPad era where luxury otherwise fails to truly understand itself.
The horse gallops across the plain - water meanders - a bird flies overhead. The helicopter footage seems to have happened by magic. You almost want Maximus to appear out of nowhere in a Ridley Scott moment, but no human must enter the picture. Genius! Voyage de Hermès.
Next - open your magazine. Twenty-something woman, too thin, wrong new clothes that fascinate, clunky shoes, no prices listed anywhere. She sits in a field on a lab stool holding origami. She anti-smiles, and she looks like a steampunk/50's secretary, but somehow she's still hot. OMG, it's Hermès! MUST SEE IF THEY HAVE SOMETHING I LOVE WHICH IS THAT UNCOOL.

Sorry - couldn't resist! Please don't take me off your mailing list, Hermès! I promise to be a good fanboy from now on!
( I like MdM's interpretation, myself.

)