Kenneth Cole Commerical

Oh I agree, it's an "artsy" take on it for sure but since it's the cologne they are selling versus Jon, I think it works okay. And actually the commercial does "fit" Kenneth Cole as far as his ads and how he normally does them, meaning mixing fashion with the social message.

deb

Gosh! Is there a hand pulling a pair of black thongs down? I just played it back 6 times as I couldn't believe my eyes!

The commercial is great. The reason he did it is because part proceeds of all sales of RSVP go to the help usa cause. He is doing it because of the that reason. He gets to help get the social message across whilst raising funds. RSVP get Jon BonJovi flogging their product. It's a win win situation.

The reason the director doesn't focus more on the charity (though I thought they focused a damm lot on the message) is because they still have to sell RSVP the cologne. It still has to be an advert to sell a prodcut. They had to mix all the elements together in 30 seconds.


Kat

Unless you know what Jon and Kenneths intention is for the sales of RSVP I think the advert is rather pointless.
Apart from the wording on the screen behind Jon there is know indication of what it's all about.
Why is Jon lying on the floor when there is a perfectly good bed behind him for example?!
It's just artsy for artsy's sake IMO.

It's not a thong! It looks like the strap of a nightdress or something similar.

Yep, it's her dress strap.

deb

Ahh now I can see .... it's a side view of her back and arm lol. I thought it was a pair of legs LMFAO!

It would be difficult to tie in the hard reality of homelessness with an ad for a luxury item like cologne. Any visual you want to use runs the risk of your promotional efforts being tagged as exploitive...a negative reaction would undermine the project's efforts.

Questions like "Did you give back?" could be universal...or personal...did you give back to your community? did you give back in your day to day relationships? Perhaps it works best with the "did you rock someone's world?" question which juxtaposes the crowd scene from the rock concert with the more personal picture of Jon rocking a baby...IMO opinion they work within the context of the ad.

Then of course there is that old Marketing 101 adage of "sex sells"...given some of the reactions I've been seeing to the ad...in this case it still works...

The charity aspects of the campaign are being handled nicely via the media, the RSVP to Help benefit and auction and by Kenneth Cole's website. The print and TV ads have their own place within the entire campaign. They are stylish and suit both the product and the media which carry them.

Trish

Nice analysis Trish. I agree.

LOLs o you have seen adverts, that do have a point??? Ultimately it's an advert and I have seen many like it using the kind of imagery they do.