Contrived leers, but no New York sneers? | Screenshot, 'What Girls Look At'
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Attention gents. Cosmo for Guys wants you to know that you can be objectified, too.
Earlier this year, Levi's proved the obvious—that some men stare at women passersby—by catching them in the act using a hidden camera hitched to the rear end of a girl strutting down the street. Now, the iPad-only publication, brought to you by Hearst, is turning the tables, releasing a video that purports to catch women checking out men as well.
The spot stars Anthony, the sweet, muscled and faux-clueless doofus who wanders around New York waving a map he can't seem to read while begging directions from pretty ladies he spots along the way. He secretly films them as they steal glances at various parts of his physique. Created by viral shop Thinkmodo, it's a follow-up to the clever "Girl With an iPad Head" that the agency made for CFG's launch this summer.
Thinkmodo founder Michael Krivicka says the team watched the Levi’s video, along with other similar stunts, as part of its background research for the project. “Ours, however, is very different from those because it doesn't just slap a music track on the visuals and that's it,” he said. “The multiple split-screen aesthetic, which gives the viewer a choice [of] four synced cameras, is our own fun take on the 'polls' that many magazines publish on a daily basis (except the glasses don't really count because the guy is talking to the girls).”
Asked whether any of the girls were actors, Krivicka punts. “While we would love to share the very simple answer and many fun stories that happened that day, we are still under an NDA and cannot reveal any info about the production of the video for strategic reasons,” he said.
That doesn’t exactly sound like a denial, especially given that some of the leers feel contrived. And while we'd hate to perpetuate the stereotype that New Yorkers are unfriendly, it'd probably be more credible with a few annoyed sneers mixed in.
