Hi Anonymous,
Personally, I don’t think the Nolita ‘No Anorexia’ ad is as good as it could be.
I think the media placement is very good. To run the ad during Milan Fashion Week, probably next to billboards featuring models for other very prestigious designers, is brave and bold.
Next, the imagery used is powerful. It’s eye-catching and controversial and sends a very powerful visual message. Although, I think it shouts at people, rather than engaging them.
Where I think the ad falls flat, is the copy. No anorexia.
First, what does this mean? What is Nolita saying? That it’s against anorexia in general? Against using anorexic models? It it saying that they themselves don’t use anorexic models? I don’t know. It doesn’t seem clear to me.
Second, this doesn’t really leave me with much to think about afterward. Had there been a smartly crafted line, then I might walk away with something a little less superficial than,
“Holy shit, a naked anorexic woman.”
The copy, which seems a tad imperative, coupled with the intense visual, makes the message seem forceful in a way. It’s discomforting.
I understand this ad campaign received a colossal amount of press, which I wouldn’t doubt; overall, it’s a brave piece of communication. I also don’t doubt that it raised the issue of anorexia to the light for that period of time.
But the question I ask is how long did the heightened awareness last for and did anything come out of it?
Four years down the track, I’m not sure if there were any long term ripples that ad caused. I hear that it gets brought up in an advertising class or two as a case study. I’m also not sure if a whole lot of people can recall the ad. But maybe they can, I’m probably just out of the loop, to be honest.
I would welcome contributions to this.
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