Gillette venus wer ist das tattoo model

Would you ever knock on a stranger’s door and, upon being allowed to enter, strip down and start shaving your pubes?

That’s precisely what Gillette and model Nicole R. Rasenti have done in this new TV commercial for the Venus for Pubic Hair and Skin razor.

“Finally, pubic hair and skin is [sic] getting the attention it deserves,” says Gillette.

What the company and its agency, BBDO Worldwide, fail to appreciate is that not everyone is going to enjoy a full-on closeup of a stubbly crotch as they sit down to dinner.

TMI: “Course Hair,” a 15-second commercial for Gillette’s Venus for Pubic Hair and Skin razor.

https://thecrankycreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/gillette-venus-for-pubic-hair-and-skin-tv-commercial.mp4

I’m not even going to discuss whether I like this ad or if I think it’s effective. Those things are subjective. What is not subjective is that this ad is shown on TV at all hours of the day — morning, afternoon and night.

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Not suitable for all audiences

In case you missed it, the ad literally shows a closeup of a woman’s crotch while talking about shaving pubic hair.

I’m no prude, but honestly, it’s a bit much.

What’s next? Shall we have equally explicit ads for toilet paper? Tampons? Menstrual pads? Viagra?

No. We do not need to see live demonstrations of these products in our living rooms.

Advertisers, as our uninvited guests, have a responsibility to know better — and to behave better.

As famed former ad critic Bob Garfield pointed out in his book, And Now a Few Words from Me …:

“. . . Commercials are not programming. Nobody has chosen to see one. TV spots simply appear, and in exchange for viewer indulgence advertisers owe a measure of restraint and respect for the sensitivities of everyone in the room. Not just the target. Everyone. This is advertisers’ unspoken compact with viewers. This has always been the compact.”

With this ad for Venus, Gillette has broken that compact.

You may remember how rigorously I defended the “trimming bushes” ad for Schick’s Hydro Silk TrimStyle razor — also a product for women who shave down there. That ad too drew plenty of criticism, but to the best of my knowledge, it only aired after prime-time viewing hours or during shows intended for mature audiences.

(Not to mention, the ad employed a clever visual metaphor to show how the product works — and compared to this Gillette ad, it was positively adorable.)

Garfield is right. Television is a mass medium, and advertisers have a responsibility to ensure that their work is appropriate for all audiences to whom it is shown.

“Advertising is a shotgun, not a rifle. When it fires, anything near the target is caught in the spray.” — Bob Garfield

Below: A far superior UK ad for a similar Gillette product, the modestly-named Venus Bikini Precision Trimmer:

https://thecrankycreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/gillette-venus-bikini-precision-bikini-area-hair-removal-commercial-UK.mp4

“Bu- bu- but pubic hair speaks to women’s truth”

Of course, some online are cheering this commercial for “telling real women’s stories” and “celebrating positive body images”:

I call huge bullshit on all of that.

If you are someone who thinks Gillette created this ad because it is a champion of women, allow me to disabuse you of such illusions.

Gillette did not create this ad to empower anyone. It created this ad to sell razors.

The “brave” strategy at work here is simply for shock value. By pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable in national TV advertising, Gillette and its ad agency have ensured that more people will talk about this ad, that it will get more press, that it will make a much bigger splash than an ad that merely met societal norms.

It may sound cynical, but it’s really no more profound or complicated than that.

Gillette’s Venus for Pubic Hair and Skin commercial: The Cranky Ad Review verdict

The reason I like Schick’s “trimming bushes” ad so much is because it is fun and flirty — perfect for its target audience. I suspect that the people who complained loudest about this ad were not in the target market and would not have bought the product anyway.

But the uproar over this Gillette ad is different. Based on my own online research and an informal survey of people in my circle, this ad for Venus seems to be divisive even among women in the target audience. Worse, this ad has incensed Gillette buyers of both sexes who swear they’ll stop buying the brand altogether.

This is not what good advertising is supposed to do.

If creatives have one job left, it is to find clever and imaginative ways to sell these kinds of products while being polite and respectful guests in people’s homes.