Actors as Fragrance

As advertising budgets shrink, will we see a return to male models doing what models do best? Over the years we began to see actors replacing models, first on the covers of GQ magazine, then most notably in fragrance ads. Why is this you may ask? It speaks to the psychology behind men’s fragrance ads. The face – and body – of a fragrance campaign has to appeal to female buyers and yet not be threatening to male buyers and users.
Last October, YSL announced that French actor Vincent Cassel would appear in the ad campaign for its newest men’s fragrance, La Nuit de L’Homme. Cassel is best known in America for his roles in Ocean’s 11 and Eastern Promises. He is perhaps slightly lesser known for his role as the cross dressing Duc D’Anjou in Elizabeth. What message does his image send to the American men’s fragrance buyer? Perhaps his predecessor, Olivier Martinez, best known for his roles as the irresistible other man in Unfaithful and a super sexy criminal in S.W.A.T., made more sense as the man that women find attractive and men want to emulate.

One only hope that as the money that drove celebrity culture into fashion and fragrance dries up, we’ll see more models working as, well, models. After all, Marc Jacobs didn’t even invite celebrities to his runway show this February and fewer celebrities than ever appeared at Fashion Week. Why, you ask? Because designers cut their budgets for appearance fees. The focus was once again on the clothes – and the models, just as it should be.
In the realm of fragrance, can you honestly say anything was sexier than model Samuel de Cubber in the Tom Ford-era YSL ads for M7? Except, of course, the NSFW version that you have password protected on your hard drive at home!

In those days, this ad was extremely controversial and the uncensored version made advertising history as the first full frontal nude image of a man in a fragrance ad. The advertising industry was moving toward using male models to fully depict the sensuality of fragrance, when it took a sudden turn toward actors – in suits, no less. Let’s hope that as designers return their focus to models to best show off their clothes on the runway, the advertising industry returns to the right track in men’s fragrance advertising. Perhaps Garrett Neff appearing in the new Calvin Klein fragrance campaign signals a return to using models as models. Only time will tell.
JOSEPH UNGOCO

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