Advertising Is Art: Jean-Paul Goude

In the world of advertising there have been some geniuses who have been able to turn the promotion business into one of the great art forms of the twentieth century. Hereby I am forever grateful for the sheer brilliance of mastermind Jean-Paul Goude.

Goude was born in 1940 in Paris and has since then shared his creative power on various levels including graphic design, photography and advertising. He has created campaigns and illustrations for brands such as Perrier, Citro�n and Kodak, which are known all over the world. Many of his campaigns included his former muse, the model and performer Grace Jones.

Out of the wide range of superb advertisements, it was rather difficult to make a selection, but eventually I opted for one of his first television advertisements, a TV spot for Lee Cooper Jeans, made in 1983. The following is an attempt to describe the first part of the advert, which is not that easy as it is rather hectic.

At first, the TV spot shows a black girl waving at the audience, while hopping on a huge yellow hopper. Then it shows a boy, you can only see his back though, hopping on a red hopper. They're both wearing Lee Cooper Jeans. Then a scene is showed in which several youngsters (I managed to count twenty of them) are all hopping together on big yellow, blue, green, red and white hoppers. They're all wearing Lee Cooper Jeans. Out of a sudden the black girl appears again, hopping her yellow hopper, and they zoom in on the hopper, when suddenly they show a different set, in which a half-naked white woman is bending over and a black girl is slapping her behind, as if she was beating a drum. Afterwards, the black girl starts painting her white buttocks with blue paint, and suddenly she is wearing Lee Cooper Jeans.

This is an example of an advert that is actually serving its purpose, because Goude is trying to show us that the jeans look so good on you when you wear them that it's as if they're made for you. He also succeeded in turning the then somewhat dull image of Lee Cooper into a very trendy brand. What I like so much about this TV spot is the fact that it makes me happy while watching it. I just feel like hopping next to them while wearing those Lee Cooper Jeans! And isn't that exactly the point? Isn't that the goal of advertisement? That, after watching it, the presented product is the first thing you want to buy?

I will leave the rest of the ad to you, as it is hopeless to describe it, it's just so terribly chaotic! But I think that the TV spot is an absolute masterpiece.

Link: http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=XquYYJxnxU0


 By Julia Van Oss


Article Source: Advertising Is Art: Jean-Paul Goude