INTEGRATION DISINTEGRATION

Starting from a print campaign by Guerlain, featuring Angelina Jolie, Brandpowder tried to investigate the physical obsolescence of communication through a gradual process of disintegration of the medium itself. This is part of the Paper Surgery Essay you are welcome to explore on our past published content.

Above: the original advertisement, with the testimonial establishing a visual interaction with the viewer.

The product is in the foreground, presented in an abstract form: its transparency does not reveal what’s in the background, meaning it’s not part of the portrait but something detached, visually competing for attention. The testimonial is sharing her secret, engaging the customer in a double act of seduction: through her presence AND through the perfume. This gimmick has been used so many times to turn into a cliché. Advertising should always strive to find alternative – if not innovative – ways to communicate, but this campaign by Guierlain quietly relies on the comfort zone of status quo. Why didn’t Angelina say anything about it? She’s a very smart woman!

A lost opportunity, given the fact the target continuously evolves, and rather quickly, indeed. Brands risk to pass unnoticed, if it weren’t for the hefty budget spent with blind perseverance to inculcate their message.

Staring turns into stairing.

The tryptic multiplies the testimonial into three figrues, reducing the power of its totemic uniqueness.

Disintegration of beauty demands attention and care. Angelina is still looking at you, imperturbable.

Close up to Angelina’s eye. We can now see the 4-color process of the image. It’s a print, not a person anymore.

Final step? The page tuns into a pulp. Is it fiction or friction? The message vibrates faintly, like a distant, dying star.