Essay: Chanel adverts

Chanel N°5 was first released by Chanel in 1921. The first advert was a simple advert, containing no text but just a drawing of a woman in a blue dress on a pale-green background drawn by the cartoonist Sem. It stood for simplicity and elegance, a concept that was carried on by Gabrielle Chanel during her whole life. An image of the product was presented in the top left corner where the name of the product and the brand are clearly perceptible.
The Chanel N°5 advert of 1937 on the other hand, was way more extravagant. The black and white picture of Mademoiselle Chanel at her fire place in an elegant black dress creates an impression of greatness. It was the very first time that mademoiselle Chanel advertised her fragrance herself.  The product is also present in a drawing in the bottom right corner. When analysing the text, the Chanel N°5 fragrance is clearly associated with the world of art. Nouns like “drama”, “scenes”, “music”, “love scène”, “dresses”, “playing”, “memories”, “artists” and “imagination” are all art related which generates a kind of curiosity. Adjectives like “soft” describe what you can hear feel or sent with your senses. In this case, it is about the “soft music that underlies the playing of a love scene” that is being compared with the smell of Chanel N°5. Moreover, the instinct of mademoiselle Chanel is described as “faultless” to accentuate the perfection of the fragrance and its smell.  Furthermore, there is the use of verbs like “created”, in order to refer to Mademoiselle Chanel as an artist, “underlies” to create a sort of mysterious aspect to the fragrance and “kindles” to show that the product inspires the imagination.
In the advert of 1957, a similar pattern of visual features is recognizable. The black and white pictures of Suzy Parker who was an American actress and model from 1947 to 1960s. In the advert, shot by Richard Avedon, she’s wearing a long, white and extravagant party dress and is escorted by two men in black suits. This time, text is only present under the form of a slogan. The slogan, “Every woman alive love Chanel”, evokes a desire for women to purchase that product with the verb “love” which has quite a strong meaning in the English language. The logo of Chanel is clearly represented in big letter and in an obvious font at the bottom. The product is pictured in the bottom right corner of the picture in black and white.
Two years later, in 1959, Suzy Parker features in a second Chanel advert for Chanel N°5. This incited celebrity endorsement. The advert was a black and white advertisement with a picture of Suzy Parker in a haute couture dress. Each advertisement component is present: the logo, the slogan, text and a product image. The nouns in the text are very related to the topic of perfume. Nouns like “Chemistry”, “Essence”, “perfume”, and an obvious repetition of the brand name “Chanel”. Adjectives like “different” and “own” were used to point out the uniqueness of the product on each person as accentuated in the verbs where there is a well-defined recurrence of “becomes”, which is underlined in the advert, in order to show that the fragrance adapts to each person to make the sent exclusive to each individual. Additionally, adjectives like “delicate” and adverbs like “subtly” and “deliciously” indicate embellish the experience of wearing Chanel N°5.
1996 was the first time there was nudity in Chanel advertisements. The advertisement was constructed with black and white picture of Ali Macgraw in a river on the left side, and on the right side, a slogan, text and the products images. The advertisement shot by Jérôme Ducrot, contains a lot of beauty-related nouns. Nouns like “bath”, “oil”, “spray”, “Eau de Cologne” and “powder” are used repeatedly. But also nouns like “skin”, “silkiness” of Chanel N°5, “splashes” of Eau de Cologne, “cloud” of bath powder and the “spell” of Chanel N°5 suggest quality and softness of the Chanel N°5 beauty products. In this advertisement, adjectives are rather exaggerated like “exhilarating” which is a relatively strong word to describe splashes. Also the adjective “soft” is used to remind of the smoothness of the products. Verbs are slightly instructive in the 1996 advert. Words like “Go”, “Give” and “Feel” imply a transition to action. On the other hand, the verb “whisper” is used which is a use of senses again, like in the advert of 1937 only that this time it implies feeling.
In the advert of 1969, the same slogan was used as in the one from 1957. The advert is a black and white advert with the face of a woman from profile. Her head covers part of the product image but we can still see the iconic bottle of Chanel N°5 that is worldly known. The advertisement is sober but sophisticated and stylish at the same time.
For the advertisement of 1971, Helmut newton shot the Chanel N°5 campaign with Jean Shrimpton. She was an English model considered to be a fashion icon at her time. This form of celebrity endorsement attracted customers into buying Chanel N°5. The advertisement consisted of Jean Shrimpton attired with an elegant pink dress, inside a Chanel N°5 bottle. Then, she was considered to be the fragrance with her grace and delicacy. The bottle is accentuated by golden outlines, which arouses prosperity. It was the first time since the twenties that Chanel published a coloured advertisement. Alike the advert is 1921, the background was of a pale green colour.
In 1972, Catherine Deneuve, a French model and actress became the new face of Chanel. With her French elegance, she was the perfect fit to represent the brand. In the 1972 advert, photographed by Richard Avedon, Catherine Deneuve appears in a black and white picture wearing a black outfit. The product is pictured in the bottom right corner as well as Chanel’s name. The only words are “Catherine Deneuve for Chanel” so as to communicate the public that a famous personality is employing Chanel N°5. The advertisement inspires the simplicity of Chanel and shows its refinement through the face of Catherine Deneuve.
In 1975, an advertisement was shot by Richard Avedon, exclusively for the United States. Catherine Deneuve was still the face of Chanel and also made a video advertisements for Chanel in that same year, which was the first of its kind for Chanel. The exclusive advertisement for the US was comparable to the campaign shot in 1972, this time in colours. The colours stay in the same tones as the previous coloured adverts. The pale and sober tones of blue in the pattern can be perceived as a pattern in colours. Although the adverts seem similar, this time Catherine Deneuve is not wearing clothing and show nudity within the norms. She is laying down next to a bottle of Chanel N°5. Again, the words “Catherine Deneuve for Chanel” are used. At the bottom, some product details are written down containing nouns like “perfume”, “Eau de Cologne” and “Sprays”, typical in the perfume industry.
Towards the late eighties, the Catherine Deneuve’s Chanel time had come to an end. In 1986, Carole Bouquet became the new Chanel muse. She features in a series of video’s advertisements by Chanel for Chanel N°5. Posing in the 1987 advert, wearing the iconic red Chanel jacket with golden jewelleries accompanied by her irresistible smile, Caroline Deneuve was Chanel’s face for more than a decade. In the shot, she is holding a large bottle of Chanel N°5 fragrance in its unique bottle. The background remains of a pastel blue which is a calming and relaxing colour to the mind.
In 1989, this time wearing a stylish white jacket, Carole Bouquet is holding a large bottle of Chanel N°5 under her arm. The picture is un very light and white tones which inspires clarity and cleanliness. The use of text and slogans seemed to have disappeared from Chanel N°5 adverts. The focus is now mainly on the celebrities posing for the fragrance rather than trying to describe what is so excessive and unique about Chanel N°5.
In the 1993 advertisement with Carole Bouquet, shot by Patrick Demarchelier, Carole Bouquet is laying down in a simple black top on a light blue background. The product in shown in the foreground with its golden shine associated with luxury and sophistication.
Back to the black and white in 1996, with another advert of Carole Bouquet also shot by Patrick Demarchelier. The French actress and fashion model was photographed wearing nothing but diamond earrings. In her hands, she holds the famous Chanel N°5 fragrance while smiling. The background of the picture is white, to stay in the light background tonality.
Carole Bouquet’s last Chanel campaign was shot by Dominique Issermann, in 1997. In the advertisement she is laying down on a chaise longue and is wearing a silk sleeping dress and high heels. This bring out a desire for women to be sexy, strong and independent. The product is represented in a relatively small size compared with other years and isn’t put in the spotlight that much.  It is still represented in the colour gold which contrasts with the black and white picture. Gold is a colour that stands for luxury, quality and refinement.
In the year 1999, Chanel N°5 advertisements took a whole other turn. The classical adverts structured out of a picture of the model with the product completely transformed into something more extravagant and modern. In the advert shot by Jean-Paul Goude, Estella Warren, the Canadian model, actress and ex synchronized swimmer is charmingly hanging between the big N5, standing for Chanel N°5, in an elegant and graceful red dress. The blonde mannequin is holding an opened flacon of the Chanel N°5 fragrance where perfume is dripping out. The background is white. Still no words are used as Chanel is trying to visually impress potential customers to buy the product.
In 2000, Estella Warren is wrapped in a transparent dress in the Chanel N°5 advert, also photographed by Jean-Paul Goude. She stands in front of a gigantic fuchsia number “5”, standing for the product name, Chanel N°5. The background is entirely black, which unlike the light and relaxing colours in the previous advert is now more stimulating and passionate.