Sisley: Fashion Junkies Ad

This ad from the fashion brand Sisley is clearly making a statement about the way people in today's society act when it comes to the newest fashions and trends. It depicts two women ("Fashion Junkies") in what appears to be a club snorting the straps of a dress as if they were huge lines of cocaine. The two women look completely intoxicated and appear to be a complete mess while they continue to snort their drug of choice. However, while the ad depicts a behavior that is illegal and frowned upon in our society, Sisley nonchalantly prints their name right in the middle of the image. So, surprisingly, they're promoting this type of obsession and addiction to fashion, as long as its with their brand of clothing. That you can be a "Fashion Junkie" with Sisley clothing and it would be ok. They've managed to take a scenario that would turn most people away from the product and tried to sell their own with that message. It's really quite astonishing.

They did use a good form of kairos and pathos with this ad however. They printed the ad at a time when large portions of the world focus only on the material aspects of people's appearance. Not even necessarily their physical attributes anymore, just what types of clothes they're wearing and what accessories they have with them. I know you wouldn't expect this, but it's very similar to the movie The Devil Wears Prada (yes I actually like that movie). Anne Hathaway is looked down on because she isn't wearing name brand clothes or what is considered "fashionable" at the time. However, once she starts wearing those things, she moves up in her job and people start thinking she's attractive for once. The ad also utilizes pathos in that it invokes a strong reaction from the audience and sparks up their emotions. You don't often see ads with people snorting lines of cocaine and Sisley knew that. They wanted to cross the line and grab your attention in order to get their name out there. They knew that by having the girls in the ad doing an illegal drug, it would incite anger and controversy around their name, but people would still be talking about them. It's like the saying "Bad press is better than no press". Even though what people are saying may not be the best things to have said about your company, they're still being mentioned and they're still on people's minds, which is exactly what the advertisers wanted to happen. So, since the advertisers got their desired result, this is a very successful form of rhetoric. It persuades you to think about Sisley even though those thoughts may be negative, and that's all that Sisley wanted you do to.