Porn within advertising, advertising within porn [part four]
In the second post of this series we discussed Shaïwear’s Summer 2006 interactive catalogue in the context of Richard Lanham’s human biogrammar, which offers a practical way of helping us prioritize attention-grabbing elements based on human nature. Not surprisingly, sex is somewhere at the top.
Shaïwear’s catalogue combines X-rated movies with a clever clickable video technology, which adds an extra layer of interactivity to the equation, providing not only an engagement component but also a functional one, which displays the virtual catalogue (with all the details necessary to purchase) within the movie. The experiment works and in our view, does not alter the flow of the experience.
In this occasion we would like to review a different kind of interactivity made famous by Crispin Porter + Bogusky and their now-ubiquitous-in-every-new-media-conversation Subservient Chicken. This type of interactivity seems to be powered by a Darwinian desire of demonstrating strength through domination. Whether we like it or not, most of us get certain level of pleasure when our orders swiftly turn into action.
The Economist declared that “Darwinism is back with a vengeance” in a special report on modern man and evolution published in December 2005. The series of articles taught us that “of the three great secular faiths born in the 19th century – Darwinism, Marxism, and Freudianism – the second died swiftly and painfully and the third is slipping peacefully away. But Darwinism goes from strength to strength…” permeating all areas of knowledge, including communications.
This lesson has been digested (perhaps not so literally) and put into practice again by another French fashion firm. Tooluxe is a boutique chain with six stores in France offering “les plus grandes marques du prêt-à-porter, pour le plus grand plaisir des fashion victims en mal de bons plans.” The brand recently launched a Virtual Tooluxe Shop that allows its users to give orders to Matt and Angie (two sexy clerks). The requests can go as far as the imagination goes as long as they are written in perfect French.
We suggest you type rouge to start.
