“Our youth is in the sheets we slept naked.”
When the Chinese single’s day was approaching, my attention was drawn to the advertisement that DAPU launched on October 27. This Chinese bedding brand posted a 2 minutes video with the slogan “Our youth is in the sheets we slept naked”, trying to raise the emotional resonance of young consumers.
The video records the process that a couple is going through from acquaintance to break-up by using the high angle shot. All the stories happen in the same room. In the video, everything except the bed change with the time passing by, including the relationship between them. DAPU intended to reveal the emotional life of modern young people: we are free to start and end up a relationship.
Creative or Outrageous?
“We are not in the society that all people are ashamed to talk about sexuality.” The idea of this video is to encourage the free-love and sexual freedom. There is no doubt that this idea is innovative, which could increase brand recognition among young people.
However, the way they tell the story is controversial. There are lots of nude scenes and explicit sex acts throughout the video. People started to wonder, “Is it too much?” Even though sex is part of people’s lives, it can be presented in a more obscure and ingenious way, showing the beauty of sexual relations.
The advertising video “I air you” that Durex released in China caught my eyes recently. (“Air” is a homophone for “love” in Chinese). The style of the “I air you” advertising video is soft and elegant. With the slogan “So thin to fit perfectly”, two performers, who are also the dancers, hold the hand, hug with each other and dance with the ASMR sound in the video. Comparing with DAPU, which adds sex in videos explicitly, Durex’s “I air you” is much more artistic and. Even though DAPU’s video created a buzz on social media, it’s hard to tell whether it’s a successful marketing campaign.
Where is the boundary?
We cannot ignore the fact that using sex appeal in marketing does attract people’s attention effectively. Many brands use sex appeal in advertising for capturing more attention, such as Victoria Secrets, Calvin Klein. However, since there is no fine line between appropriate and excessive while using sex in ads, it would be helpful if brands use the sexual innuendo in advertisements, which may decrease the possibility of being criticized. Also, considering that some cultures may be less favorable to sexually ads, marketers may need to do more researches on audiences’ perceptions towards sex.