switchbladekiller:

truebloodwillpsychuout:

unreconstructedfangirl:

stillhidden:

truebloodwillpsychuout:

stillhidden:

truebloodwillpsychuout:

stillhidden:

pbt1:

stillhidden:

truebloodwillpsychuout:

unreconstructedfangirl:

stillhidden:

unreconstructedfangirl:

askarsswedishmeatballs:

Alexander Skarsgard and Lara Stone for Calvin Klein

That he’s a beauty goes without saying, and he looks as handsome as ever here, but this ad is not capitalising on the real source of his sexiness. I find it a bit disappointingly generic. It reduces him to just a handsome face and a big hand, and it’s so dark. Also, is it just me, or are perfume ads regularly the most ridiculous thing ever?

It’s not just you. I find most of them both disappointingly generic and ridiculous. 

Like you said, he looks great, but he is scaled down to the set of his features. Which are gorgeous. But it feels to me like, if you are going to bother hiring a distinctive looking celebrity for your ad campaign, the goal is not to de-emphasize their individuality, but to let their distinctiveness shine. 

Exactly! He has something really special, but in this ad they’ve managed not to tap that — he’s a gloomy ken doll here. It’s not his fault, it’s just a very uninteresting ad.

What exactly were you all looking for in a fragrance ad?

And for the record, I think Alex looks great here. He hasn’t been photoshopped to death. There is honesty and rawness in this picture, and it’s compelling. Sometimes, i think y’all expect rainbows to come out of his butt or something.  

There is no need to be rude. You don’t have to agree.

And if you paid attention, you’d have noticed that we both state — for the record — that he looks great here. You see honesty and rawness, fine. I see every other ad for every other fragrance with every other celebrity/model that’s out there. 

What exactly were we looking for? Something that wasn’t this. Yes, it’s a fragrance ad. No, they don’t all have to be generic.

Advertising is about the formula that works. This is a formula that works. Sex sells. Creative and original are not always what sells. In this case, the mundane is the norm. While I agree that Alex could make buying trash bags sexy, and this is not the most original use of his talents. But hell, he does look good but I see what you are saying. I am sure Alex was happy with the pay check. I am interested in the accompanying video. Film noir is a favorite of mine.

I work in advertising. Believe me, I know. :) I do think, though, that originality and creativity can sometimes go a long way to sell a product. Especially in the market over-saturated with the generic. These kinds of ads are so prevalent, you stop noticing them. They are like the white noise for the eyes. :) 

Don’t get me wrong: As we said, he looks great. But I think they did miss an opportunity here, with someone like AS and the face as interesting and really rather unconventionally attractive like his. Oh, well.

I am interested in the video, too, though. That should be a lot better, because, no matter what the concept — and I do like noir — he will stand out by the sheer fact that he does stand out on film. :)

Exactly. The whole point of the ad is “buy this new cologne, put it on your man, and pretend you’re having an encounter with Alexander Skarsgard.”  Now a film with Alex will be interesting even if it’s crap.

Yes, the point of advertising is to sell things. Conveying that point, however, is what makes it or doesn’t. And you are missing the point of the entire discussion: which is that they had an opportunity here to stand out in the sea of “Same Old/Same Old,” to rise above the competition — which is also the point of advertising — and they didn’t take it. At least not with this print campaign. What they do with the video remains to be seen. 

Look, I don’t read magazines and have no idea what is generic in fragrance ads. Until I read this post, I didn’t realize that fans wanted more. Like I asked before, if Alex’s face is not compelling enough, what were you looking for?

It’s not what you said, it’s how you said it. There was no need to be rude about it.

And I don’t know who are these fans you are speaking of. This was a back and forth between myself and UFG, and neither one of us spoke on anyone else’s behalf.

It’s absolutely possible that his face is all that the fans want. But this ad campaign isn’t aimed at his fans. It’s aimed at a much broader audience, a large portion of which may very well have no idea who he is. Or not care. And you don’t have to read magazines, you, the consumer, with no preconceived idea, only have to walk into the nearest department store. Looking for a cologne. Unless you know what you want, or like the specific scent, here are your choices:

(that’s Evan Rachel Wood, btw. Not that you can tell from this ad. They managed to make her generic, too).

And these are just the small sampling. You can’t tell me you don’t see it. A white male, a celebrity or a model, with chiseled features, 2-day stubble, and piercing eyes, “glamouring” you into buying the product. The problem, of course, is that, in the sea of that, you won’t even notice that one of them is Alex. And unless you are a fan of Calvin Klien’s perfumes specifically, this ad campaign does nothing to distinguish itself from the rest. 

Yes, the goal is to sell the product. And believe me, they do not shell out large amounts of money for a celebrity so that the celebrity would blend in. They want them to stand out. 

It’s a beautiful photo of him. And had it been the only one darkish, brooding, staring, unnaturally lit ad in the building, they are golden. But as it is? Not even close. Alex is amazingly photogenic. They can make anything with him. Even the most ridiculous, off-kilter, strange photos don’t deminish his appeal. And I can’t believe that a highly professional photographer they had working on this couldn’t have gone some other rout, created something visually different but no less stunning but still consumer-friendly, when he had Alex to work with.

This campaign is pretty. No one is disputing that. But it falls short of its main goal: To stand out from the competition. 

THANK YOU. This was my point exactly. He looks beautiful, and none of this is about rainbows coming out of his butt. MY COMMENT WAS ABOUT THE ADVERTISEMENT.

Here’s what happened: Alexander showed up for a shoot looking as beautiful as ever, with rainbows coming out of his butt BECAUSE HE IS HIM, and without doing a goddamned thing, he is outrageously beautiful. The people who made this ad took his picture and shot a commercial, and he made an outrageous sum of money, because you get paid WAY more for commercials than any other work, and he has to be an especially desirable face in a thing like this. Ok, so they took his picture and shot an advert, and then he went home, and had nothing more to do with it. The advert, meanwhile, went into post production, and the people in charge of making this advert MADE IT WHAT IT IS. 

IN MY OPINION (an opening statement which means: YOU ARE FREE TO HAVE ANOTHER ONE), this ad is generic, and does not use what he has. It is bad in the way that ALL OF THESE ADS are bad. That is not a comment on his work, it’s a comment on this ADVERTISEMENT. 

And, truebloodwillpsychyouout, I think you should really think about your tone. If you don’t want bitchy responses, try not being rude and condescending.

OK, back to being a bitch for no reason. I wasn’t being rude or condescending. I was being sarcastic and committing the grave crime of disagreeing with your point of view. You are so obssessed with this guy that the idea of him being in a generic fragrance ad offends you on a strange personal level. Maybe you should get a job with Calvin Klein and shoot their next campaign with the next celebrity who is so awesome that you can make a cologne ad with him holding the perfume bottle while shitting rainbows.  

See, that was me being rude and condescending.

I’m not sure what your problem is truebloodwillpsychuout: but you seem to have a Bee in your bonnet about this topic.And taking quite an aggressive stance over something that’s not warranted.As already stated, this is not about Alexander, its about the lack of originality of the campaign photo.Its not something that interests me.But I’m sure the commercial will be good,with the film noir feel.Differences of opinion are a given on most discussions, preferably without the melodramatics.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT. If you want to know why I block people, this is why. If you really want to write dissertations on trivial shit, PLEASE USE YOUR OWN PICTURES.