–
You watched it.
You can admit it here. We know you saw it, the video was viewed over 5 million times just here on GMP, not to mention everywhere else!
And the video made you feel something.
Lust, love, passion, anger, frustration, disgust, irritation—something. You felt it.
And then you found out that it was actually an advertisement for clothing, and featured not “average joes” but models, actors and musicians from well-known bands. You felt something about that, too.
The question is this, what changes about the video when you know it’s an ad?
Even bigger, does the fact that it was cast with beauties and used to sell a product, change the film itself for you?
Is art being poisoned by advertising?
Or do you think, sometimes, art can lift advertising up and make it better?
No wrong answers.
Ad, and more than that, this is real rape culture, not what the feminists thinks rape culture is.
I’m not sure I ever understood what the fuss was all about in this video because for me, first kisses are so much more about the build-up and the romance. It’s the first sparks of two people starting to know each other on a physical level. When that comes right after “Hi, My name is…”, something was missing for me.
That being said, there were moments of vulnerability that were captured that made me glad to have seen it. Once I found out these were actors, I believed less in the vulnerability and lost any interest I had.
But they weren’t all actors!
How funny, I just wrote about this too a couple days ago:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/nathan-bean/why-first-kiss-is-progressive-even-if-its-sponsored-by-a-clothing-company/10150371961569996
If this isn’t proper behavior for the GMP, I promise I won’t do it again, just let me know!
This was actually my first time watching it and my reaction is that I found it kinda obvious and underwhelming and it was clearly an ad right from the beginning and I didn’t even notice the clothes they were wearing.
My opinion is that it was clearly cast – not just people off the street.
And that, in this case, art IS lifting up advertising. THe fact that it’s selling something does nothing to change the film on the screen, and they DID just meet and they are just strangers.
Nothing is deceptive.
Beyond that, as a feminist, of course I’m excited to see a female director get top billing on a massively viral short!
I think it was still art. I’m not sure as an ad it was all that effective because while people saw it who even remembers what the clothing line was? But as a video it seems to have really touched people’s hearts and minds–I think that’s the reason so many people feel cheated.
I don’t though.