CR Blog

Getting Intimate With Elle Macpherson: It's OK... It's For Work

Advertising, Moving Image

Posted by Gavin Lucas, 21 August 2007, 11:41    Permalink    Comments (8)

Intimates campaign still

“What the hell are you doing?” asked my editor when he spotted me, clearly on MySpace and watching an embedded movie of a girl writhing around on her bed wearing next to nothing. “Oh, this?," I stuttered. "Erm, it's a new campaign for Elle Macpherson’s Intimates range of lingerie,” I responded. "Honest."

Yes, my "excuse" was in fact bone fide: The new campaign for Elle Macpherson’s Intimates line (art directed by Gary Freedman of Glue Society and shot by photographer Max Doyle) revolves around seven hot young things scantily clad in underwear from the Intimates range. Each has her own MySpace page on which a short film is posted showing the girl doing something unusual in the intimacy of their own home in their underwear. For example, one plays the, err, Tuba, one blows up her pillow (with an explosive charge), one makes a poodle out of a balloon, one tells jokes and - a personal favourite - one uses her hands to create a sillhouette of a drummer which she then makes play along to a drum solo.

Most MySpace users will have received a friendship request from a sexy-young-thing type page where an 18 year-old girl’s homepage shows an image of her wearing practically nothing, a description that says she’s a young model looking for a big break and that she’s got much more "interesting" images and a live webcam on another website - in case you’d care to take a look. This campaign attempts to poke fun at such pages without being tawdry. Rather the genuine "hotness" of the girls, the quality of films combined with the ridiculousness of what each girl is actually doing in her video (making cups and saucers levitate, for example) makes this campaign genuinely fun.

We notice the girls don’t have any "friends" at the moment apart from themselves and while it’s great that Glue Society haven’t felt it necessary to add thousands of friends to each page, we at CR can’t help but wonder how relevant sexy lingerie is to the MySpace population… Not very, we suspect, but as bringing our readers the latest in commercial communication is our raison d’etre, we thought it best to check out the campaign thoroughly. Actually, I don’t think we’ve watched all of the films yet – duty calls...

http://www.myspace.com/intimatedrummergirl
http://www.myspace.com/intimatebombergirl
http://www.myspace.com/intimatejokergirl
http://www.myspace.com/intimatetubagirl
http://www.myspace.com/intimateballoongirl
http://www.myspace.com/intimatesaucergirl
http://www.myspace.com/intimatebubblegirl

The campaign isn't restricted to MySpace, the films are also on YouTube and press and poster ads will use stills of the films which lend them a particulary voyeuristic, webcam look - here are a couple of examples:

Tubagirl Intimates poster
Behold, Tubagirl. That's right, she plays the tuba. In her undies

Drummergirl Intimates poster
And this is Drummergirl, our favourite. Watch it here

8 Comments

There's nothing creative about this advertising campaign. Just good old objectification of women to add to our patriarchal, consumer-capitalist society. I'm so bored of this kind of thing and all the creatives giving it press. It's about as innovative as a copy of FHM.
james windsor
2007-09-23 00:10:47


grow some balls James and then use them
Should be anynomous
2007-10-16 13:05:31


That was a very immature response. You obviously feel threatened by feminism. I'd advice you to read up and embrace it. It's for your benefit.
james windsor
2007-10-16 20:20:38


Her collection looks beautiful and the ad campaign seems fitting. Hautelook.com is having a sample sale tomorrow for it. I can't wait! They have the best deals on this site.
allison
2008-09-22 20:49:38


I agree with James, somewhat.
But I also like using my balls...
Nobody wants to hear it
2008-09-23 12:00:58


I never suggested you shouldn't use your balls. (?)

I like using mine. I try to find a new thing to use them for everyday.
james windsor
2008-10-03 19:58:00


I thoroughly support feminism james, but this is lingerie that is being sold. It's suppose to be sexy...what do you feel would be a non-objectifying way to sell it?
melanie
2008-11-19 19:25:45


I take your point. I hadn't even thought about what it's selling. I suppose I'm so used to seeing women jiggling around in their underwear selling god knows what that when it's actually appropriate, it kind of slips me by. I think it's more the "It's okay, it's for work" laddishness that bothers me. It's such a sexist industry and it really frustrates me.
james windsor
2008-12-12 00:07:57


Tell us what you think

What happens with my feedback?

We no longer require you to register and have a password in order to comment, simply fill in the form below. All comments are moderated so you may experience a short delay before your comment appears. CR encourages comments to be short and to the point. As a general rule, they should not run longer than the original post. Comments should show a courteous regard for the presence of other voices in the discussion. We reserve the right to edit or delete comments that do not adhere to this standard.

Share This — Social Bookmarking

Get the RSS Feed