SUHANA GORDHAN: Kenzo ad’s fresh scent of a very real woman
THE most exhilarating thing you will watch in advertising this week is a perfume commercial for Kenzo World.Created by legendary film and commercials director Spike Jonze and performed by Margaret Qualley, it is the gift you can give your eyeballs if you’re having a particularly perfunctory week. Last week, during The Loeries — SA’s local advertising awards festival — Unilever Africa vice-president Debra Mallowah gave an outstanding speech, titled #Unstereotype, at the DStv Seminar of Creativity. She spoke about the gender stereotypes we perpetuate in advertising and challenged us to rethink and reimagine the roles we give to women (and men) in our commercials. Debra received a standing ovation, which means the advertising and marketing committee is in agreement — we’re done with portraying women as bossy wives, twerking domestic workers, jealous girlfriends, saccharine-sweet mothers and as objects of desire viewed through the male gaze. What’s so powerful about Kenzo World’s new co...
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