ASA Adjudication on YSL Beaute Ltd

Ad

A TV ad, for Belle D'Opium perfume, featured a woman dancing to a drum beat. The woman pointed to her inner elbow and ran her finger along the inside of her forearm. She was then shown lying on the floor as a voice-over began "I am your addiction, I am Belle D'Opium. The new fragrance by Yves St Laurent."

Issue

Thirteen viewers objected that the ad was irresponsible and offensive, because the woman's actions simulated drug use.

BCAP Code

Response

YSL Beaut Ltd (YSL) said they took their social responsibility seriously. They said they adhered to a strict code of business ethics which governed how they behaved, and ensured they were a responsible advertiser. They added that they did not intend to use drug imagery in the ad, and said they had conducted consumer research that showed consumers had not interpreted the ad in that way.

YSL said the fragrance OPIUM® had been a registered trademark in the UK since 1977. In 2010, YSL launched an updated version called BELLE DOPIUM®, based on the concept of a woman full of contradiction - mysterious and obsessive, powerful and fragile, innocent but feline. They said that Belle, the character in the ad, was addictive and seduced the viewer to become his addiction. They said the tagline "the addiction" was a core value of YSL but in a positive way - "devoted to life, addicted to love".

YSL said the name Belle DOpium® suggested the addictive qualities of women who wore the fragrance rather than the addictive effects of narcotics. They said the voice-over reinforced the seduction message in stating "I am your addiction, I am Belle DOpium®". YSL said if it was socially acceptable to market a brand called Opium® then naturally any marketing would play on the effect of the fragrance and the women wearing it, suggesting the relationship with the fragrance was a powerful one. They stated that the ad clearly displayed the fragrance bottle and YSL name, and added that Belle appeared to be a healthy, vibrant woman expressing her sexuality.

YSL said the ad was choreographed by renowned, award-winning choreographer Mr Akram Khan, MBE, and said he aimed to create an ad inspired by the concept of the removal of excessive movement, focusing on the most simple and profound things. They directed us to the Belle DOpium® website where a full length version of the ad could be viewed, and Mr Khan commented on the five key scenes of the ad. The scenes were identified as: 1. the inner energy, inner passion and inner desire in Belle; 2. the circular symbol made by Belles fingers that represented the circle of life, or light 3; the gesture that traced the flow of energy in Belles body, to represent the roads that led to desire or passion 4; the gestures to represent wings and a desire to fly; 5. the movement on the floor that represented a sense of life being given out of the earth.

YSL said they had instructed a third party to conduct qualitative research on 96 French womens responses to the ad, and none of the women made any reference to harm, offence, unhealthy or anti-social behaviour, crime, violence, disorder or drug use. They said they had also undertaken a quantitative third party research on UK consumers, obtaining responses from 410 adults on the ad. They said the test results showed that the ad was acceptable, created with a sense of responsibility, and that it was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence to most viewers. YSL said that, based on TV ratings, almost 44 million people had seen the ad at least once, yet they had received no complaints about the ad.

YSL said the average consumer was someone "reasonably well-informed and reasonably observant and circumspect" and they believed the average consumer would see the ad as an artistic endeavour to promote a sensual fragrance by YSL, and that it was therefore unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence to most viewers.

Clearcast said they approved the pre-production script on the basis that it featured a woman dancing on her own, something that was fairly common in perfume ads. They said the idea that a finger running down an arm was a drug reference was not something that occurred to them when they viewed and cleared the ad.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA understood the ad had been carefully choreographed and styled to create Belle and her movements as a way of emphasising the powerful and intense qualities of the perfume, and to play on the idea the perfume had addictive qualities like a woman or opium. However, we noted that the ad broadcast on TV was only 20 seconds of the full one-minute ad featured on the Belle DOpium® website, and that it had been cut to feature predominantly the quickest and most dramatic music and scenes from the full ad.

We noted that two of the key scenes, the circular symbol and wings gesture scenes, were omitted from the TV ad, and other key scenes were altered. We considered that the fast changing scenes and urgent music, created a less flowing, more frantic atmosphere in the ad, which might not enable viewers to interpret the ad as a stylised expression of femininity and bewitchment, as intended.

We were concerned that in the context of the ad, Belle running her finger down her inner arm could be seen to simulate the injection of opiates into the body. We were also concerned that following that scene, Belle was shown moving in a series of short, rapid scenes, before the ad concluded with her body seizing upwards while lying on the floor, an action we considered could be seen to simulate the effect of drugs on the body. While we recognised the name OPIUM® was a well-known designer perfume brand and did not consider it irresponsible or offensive to advertise OPIUM® branded products, and while we noted the consumer research found that most viewers did not consider the ad to be offensive, we nevertheless considered the woman's actions simulated drug use, and therefore concluded it was irresponsible and unacceptable for broadcast.

The ad breached BCAP Code rules 1.2 (Social responsibility), 4.1 (Physical, mental, moral or social harm), 4.4 (Health and safety), and 4.9 (Violence, crime,disorder or anti-social behaviour), but did not breach 4.2 (Serious or widespread offence).

Action

The ad must not be broadcast again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)