This is an advert deserving of the hype usually reserved for Super Bowl commercials. I watched it repeatedly for literally 15 minutes after Tanya at Girlports.com forwarded a link to us about a new campaign for the Phillips Satinelle Ice Epilator hair removal product.
The campaign features day-in-the life visuals of an understatedly beautiful woman that turns heads while walking down the street. Of course, the long dark hair and glisteningly smooth legs happen to be those of a 25-year-old model.
We follow this iconic figure of fresh-faced feminine allure from a morning jog on the beach through a day of dance rehearsals, a photo shoot and a backstage makeup session, including a sultry leg shave before taking the stage behind a microphone with a group of just-as-leggy women dancing in the background.
These images and the accompanying soft vocal soundtrack are a perfect vehicle to send Midwest housewives directly to the local Walgreens after seeing the commercial on Lifetime or Oxygen.
Oh, did I mention that that this sleek model is a man named James, aka Karis?
Phillips is not only presenting a clever, memorable campaign, it is treating individuals like Karis with respect and dignity. The campaign also throws in some humor while touting Satinelle Ice’s pain-reducing technology for simultaneously pulling masses of hair from your skin.
It’s a text graphic over James’ seemingly effortless epi-process that states “Like all men, he’s not great with pain.”
This day-in-the-life spot, most importantly from an LGBT perspective, also provides some understanding into James with an accompanying voice-over that includes statements like: “It’s never really about fooling people, it’s just about doing what I feel most comfortable with … trying to send the message of beauty out there.”
The Phillips site also features vignettes with interviews about James’ views on grooming and beauty, and of course, James own insights into James himself, imbedded in this post.
Phillips reportedly has a counter-advert it plays in some markets that features a biological woman enjoying the fruits of silk smooth legs. Still, the company deserves huge accolades in the advertising industry and from the LGBT community for developing this campaign and featuring it fully on the Phillips.com site.
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What a fantastic ad! Kudos Phillips!