From Chanel to Dior, Gucci to YSL, there was a fundamental shift in fragrance advertising after the #MeToo movement. Take a look below. Is this shift in imagery and power dynamics continuing today? And do you think these ads represent women’s roles today?

Let us know what you think.

Onward,
Jasmina
Founder

Transcription for Video:

Can you spot the difference in how Chanel number five portrayed femininity between these two ads? 

Another example here: look at Miss Dior. What about YSL? There’s actually more going on here than meets the eye, and can you guess what major cultural moment is actually responsible for the differences?

This is Future Society’s field notes. I'm Jasmina, the founder, and what we do here is we look at the past to help us understand how we can shape what happens next. 

In June, I took a fragrance history class by fragrance historian Eugenie Briot from Givaudan, and I found it interesting when she talked about fragrance advertising before the Me Too movement and after the Me Too movement. Important to note here that the Me Too movement was founded by Tarana Burke in 2006, but it gained mainstream global attention in October of 2007. And that is the timeline split demarcation that these ads represent, because it raised questions about who we listen to and how women are portrayed.

Fragrance brands had to think very directly about this, specifically, who holds the power in their ads, who’s watching, and what story are we telling in the wake of Me Too? This meant creative directors and marketing professionals needed to ask questions like, are we watching her or are we with her? And is the woman being looked at, or is she doing the looking? Are we meant to desire her, or are we relating to her? Does she seem free, or is she serving a role? 

And I want to make a special note of Gucci, which this brand seems to be ahead. This is an ad that was actually a few months ahead of Me Too, and I want to point out a few attributes that are pretty interesting. 

So first, it’s a group setting, which is something that a lot more fragrance ads would emulate post 2017, and the camera is joining the women rather than observing them. And if you look at how they’re portraying freedom, it’s freedom and softness without submission or any sort of sexual undertones. 

What does this mean for the future? I’ll admit that my feelings are a bit complicated on this topic. I am a woman, I’m also a CEO, an engineer, a mom. So you could say that yes, I grew up believing in the you can do anything, be anyone narrative. But what I’ve experienced is that what the world says and how the world actually works are two different things.

And so these ads that show us in control and running free, sometimes they feel like a new fantasy, more empowering on the surface but do we actually feel that way?

 And there are a lot of days that I don’t. But our real power, I think, is in refusing to settle for the story that we are given and demanding that the world rise to meet the one that we know is possible. Because, if fragrance history has shown is anything, it is that women have never just accepted the roles or the stores that they were given.