Since we already posted on one fashion ad by Sweden’s Forsman & Bodenfors today, here’s another. You won’t find any Iggy Pop here, but you will find more than your daily share of men with body image issues.
In short, this campaign promoting Norwegian menswear brand Dressman is like the male version of Dove’s “Real Beauty.”
Its not-quite-revolutionary idea: cast men with realistic bodies. But we’d like to think the agency worked on this project to address the world’s desperate need for Europop versions of the very worst Billy Joel songs.
This statement from the release is amusing:
“Half of the Nordic population believe that advertising is the cause of our unhealthy obsession with the body; an obsession that leaves 80 percent of men dissatisfied with how they look, 8-11 percent of all school boys testing steroids and 38 percent of all men willing to give up a year of their lives to get the perfect body.”
So, as usual, it’s all advertising’s fault. Can we blame the agency world for that song, too?
That old guy’s beard is impressive, though.