The Boys Club – Berlin Cameron Doesn’t Get It (Again)
September 20, 2007
Berlin Cameron should only make ads for young men. Honestly. That should be the agency’s new tagline, “We do boys better.” Oh and – “We get racial stereotypes like no other.” You know how we feel about their Heineken ads. You know how we feel about one of their creative directors, so we’re positive you aren’t going to be surprised that we’re slamming their recent spot for Hennessy. The brand has long been popular within the hip-hop/urban culture world, so we understand why their latest commercials focus on turning the liquor into the urban equivalent of the martini – a status symbol, as well as a sign of class.
How-the-f***-ever, the new spot called “Lost Weekend” featuring an old hit by NERD is pretty, but completely short sighted. Let us tell you why… Featuring black men with a plethora of white women, and white guys in the same pairing, we couldn’t help, but roll our eyes. Yes, there’s that one quick shot of the black woman in the beginning and then nada.
Christ. Okay, advertising is aspirational, so the pool party, this lost rich weekend vibe – FINE. Yet, the spot misses out (and alienates) on one of the fastest growing affluent markets out there within the target demo. Black women are currently out educating and earning their male counterparts by hefty margins. Black women are also overwhelmingly single, since the ratio of females to males (after social factors come into play) is 57% to 43%. Many, many black women feel that men are nowhere to be found (that’s a discussion for some other blog to really get into). The smart play for Hennessey would have been to demand that Berlin look hard at cultural factors, do some research and create a better mix of black females to males and then also, black females paired with males. Hell… black women buy liquor at the club, at a dinner meeting and on a yacht in Cannes, too.
We actually spent this morning sending out emails to 11 black females to see what they thought. It was totally unscientific. Eight of them said they didn’t feel represented. Six (there’s some cross over here) said the ad was re-enforcing stereotypes that left a bad taste in their mouth. Two said the ad was fine, no emotional response.
Advertising is about more than being “cool.” It’s about reaching your target demo, LOOKING FORWARD and understanding the cultural landscape.
September 21, 2007 at 12:11 am
not sure it’s so much a slight against black females versus an attempt to hip things up with some cool brothers. plus, they probably needed coverage to edit black-dominant spots for the “multicultural market” media buys. check out the hennessy print ad running in the latest issue of vibe featuring an oh-so-hip white guy playing the piano in a smoky jazz club. there’s a certain wannabe quality at work here. plus, hennessy has always advertised hard to black audiences. didn’t realize white folks even drank the stuff.
September 21, 2007 at 11:01 am
Man that work just sucks. It feels like a mood edit they decided to air
September 21, 2007 at 6:15 pm
I was lost after 15 seconds and that is no good for anyone looking to engage a viewer. For me it was cheesy. I get the high-class vibe but it was too exclusive for anyone to relate to. I think you want to create that exclusive yet attainable-on-a-night-out-with-my-crew-vegas-style vibe. There is something so 1980s/early 90s about this. . . almost like a cheesy cigarette ad in print.
September 23, 2007 at 1:12 am
I think Tim Nudd pointed out that “The Lost Weekend” is a famous 1940s movie about an alcoholic’s sorry life. Not what you want to name your liquor spot.
September 26, 2007 at 4:42 am
Jesus! Does anyone else notice that this is an exact rip-off of all that Jaguar stuff that’s been playing? Same kind of cinematography, same kind of models, same exact locations. Look at all the Jaguar ads on Youtube. Same with the print i’ve seen too. Neither one is real original, but f**king hell, Berlin Cameron. Did you just use the leftover Jaguar footage and Photoshop in some bottles?
September 26, 2007 at 4:10 pm
before we go too crazy on the colors (color?) in Berlin’s rainbow, reckkinize that Pharrell Williams was on the Hennessy shoot, and that Hennessy engages him as a creative director.
Not sure it’s advertising’s job to hold up the mirror, either—though when trying to do just that, it invariably makes a sentient adult want to gouge out his/her own eyes with a spoon. still: it’s not tasked with representing reality. at all. the racism latent in most brands often will out, sure—some brands hide it better than others. but someone would have to harbor a colossal victim complex to feel slighted by Berlin’s Hennessy work. if anything—and i’ve only seen the print—it errs on the side racial, ethnic, and psychographic box ticking. not realistic—nor moving, nor much of a party—but super extra not disrespectful.
one more thing: market spirits and beer and anything that gets you buzzed to women, and you’re a fucking idiot. either that or you’re a fucking genius who made so much genius money doing genius things you can now afford to throw the shit away. women do not buy booze in any meaningful proportion. they don’t. the smart play appeals to men (and the women who love them) without offending women.
[you will be saddened to read that under these guidelines, the Swedish Bikini Team fails to qualify for greatness. apologies in advance.]
October 15, 2007 at 8:08 am
Herr