Yves Saint Laurent’s Belle D’Opium fragrance ad featuring the sultry French actress Melanie Thierry as Belle engaging in an ecstatic dance was banned in the UK.
Why, you ask? Apparently, UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) thought that “Belle running her finger down her inner arm could be seen to simulate the injection of opiates into the body”. The ASA continue, “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.”
Akram Khan, the choreographer who developed the moves, strongly disagrees. Specifically, the finger movement that according to ASA inspires people to inject heroin, actually “represents the flow of energy in Belle’s body, to represent the roads that led to desire or passion.”
A survey of 96 French women who watched the commercial found that the ad the totally acceptable, so did another survey of 400 British women. So it’s a bit perplexing why the ASA banned the YSL Belle D’Opium fragrance ad so quickly based only on 13 complaints out of the 44 million who watched it.
So how about it, does the ad gets you in a mood for some intravenous opiates?
