Chanel N°5’s new perfume commercial aired to much anticipation as fans eagerly awaited Brad Pitt’s debut as the first male face to the Chanel fragrance house. Since airing earlier this month, however, the 30-second commercial has been creating quite a stink.
Directed by Joe Wright (more famous for offerings such as “Anna Karenina”), the new Chanel commercial has a smouldering Pitt delivering a serious monologue. At first, viewers think he is talking about a woman before they realize he is, in fact, referring to the perfume.
Chanel N°5 is 91 years old this year, and an iconic scent in its own right. Movie stars like Marilyn Monroe and Nicole Kidman have endorsed the fragrance in the past, but Pitt is the first male superstar to be the face of Chanel N°5.
Chanel president Andrea d’Avack explained the choice; “to keep a legend fresh, you always have to change its point of view. … We think very much that the perfume is a seduction between a man, a woman and the perfume.”
The script which has everyone scratching their heads runs as follows: “It’s not a journey. Every journey ends, but we go on,” Pitt muses in the commercial. “The world turns, and we turn with it. Plans disappear, dreams take over. But wherever I go, there you are. My luck. My fate. My fortune. Chanel N°5. Inevitable.”
Pitt is said to have cashed in a cool $7 million for the ad which has become an instant internet sensation despite the confusion. “N°5 has always been the most iconic women’s fragrance,” Pitt said. “That’s what I see being the appeal of this campaign; it goes beyond the abstract of emotion or beauty to evoke what is timeless: a woman’s spirit.”
If you want to judge for yourself, take a peek at the advert here:
