Going through some old notes for blog topics and came across “Charlize Theron: Dior Commercial.” My OCD will not allow me to leave any topic unexplored, so here we are attempting to remember why this stood out to me… Hmmm, I remember now: Macy’s.
This goes back to a time when I actually saw commercials, as the cord has now been cut for a couple of years. Just look at how beautiful she is. How can you not remember this commercial? (Shout out to London Grammar serenading us in the background) Look at that hair, the dress, that necklace! And not just her. Where is she? Alone in a cathedral from the future, it seems. An era where the chandelier business is booming. A clear portrait is being drawn here. You wear Dior and your status as a human will be immediately elevated to that out of a scene from The Great Gatsby. Well that is of course, if you know what Dior is. This commercial makes me want to know what Dior is. Cue me nudging my wife, to which she utters one, simple word: “fragrance.”
Fragrance. Are we no longer using the word ‘perfume?’ We have evolved as human beings and can now replace words with pretty upgrades. I guess I can applaud an expanding vocabulary. I mean, the word perfume probably does not do Dior justice after watching this commercial. Fragrance seems to fit well. That or “Glitteriose.” If I had one word to describe the feeling I get while watching this advertisement, it would definitely be a combination of the words “glittering” and “grandiose.” See, Dior already has me thinking of a beautiful future. A future where you can create hybrids of words with zero consequences. Wear Dior: Literally Nothing Else Matters.
This is not the direction I saw this going when I started this post. Basically, it was as if I were a child seeing fireworks for the first time when initially seeing this commercial, only to be abruptly disturbed to hear an older man’s voice attach itself at the end, letting me know that I could purchase this fragrance at my local Macy’s. In the clip above, the Macy’s tag is tragically missing, but what an amazing contrast in messaging sent over the course of 60 seconds. I have nothing against Macy’s, but after watching the first 54 seconds of this ad, I was expecting that I could only find Dior exclusively in a land far, far away that can only be described through the lens of a fairy tale. Instead, I can go wait in line next to some mannequins displaying the latest “trends” that Columbia has to offer and ask Margaret at the front counter of Macy’s if there is a mail-in rebate for purchasing this fragrance in bulk.