How can I risk losing everything I’ve worked so hard for

Yet another video promo for the La Prairie Life Threads fragrances (this one is for Platinum). You can see two more videos here and here, or find even more at the Life Threads channel at YouTube.

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  1. Tara
    Posted on 3 November 2009

    ICK!!!!!!!!!!!! Nails on a chalk board for so many reasons…..Good thing I tried these before I saw the vidoes..What were they thinking especially with this one?

    • Robin
      Posted on 3 November 2009

      I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen a perfume campaign that was such a turn off as this one. There are lots of videos (don’t know the exact # but more than 10 I think) and almost every single one annoyed me.

  2. Nina
    Posted on 3 November 2009

    Why do all these videos make women out to be obsessed with romance, and pretty dumb to boot? Do they think we’re still in the 1970s? I can’t imagine any concept less likely to persuade me to buy.

    • Robin
      Posted on 3 November 2009

      Exactly. This one is the worst of the lot, I think.

    • Sunnyfunny
      Posted on 3 November 2009

      Oh, I know. You go, girl! Ditch your entire life and life’s work for that man! I’m sure he’s worth it! He wouldn’t ask you to do it if he didn’t think he was! Rotfl.

      • Robin
        Posted on 3 November 2009

        Exactly! What I love is that apparently because she has worked hard, her life looks (otherwise) totally empty. Some moral.

        • Posted on 4 November 2009

          That is a very good point! Very out of place in our empowered times.

  3. Bee
    Posted on 3 November 2009

    these promos are soooo bad that I refuse to try the scents… sorry for ranting , I just have to say that one reason is that I have a general aversion to Arielle Domblasle, (in one of the other prairie life thread promos), but hey, her first and last vaguely good film performance was ages ago an an vintage E. Rohmer film)

    • Robin
      Posted on 3 November 2009

      I hear the scents are pretty good…given how many “great commercial but crappy perfume” combos we see, I’d forgive the commercials!

      • Bee
        Posted on 3 November 2009

        well, you’re both a nicer person and a more dedicated perfumista
        :-)
        grumpy greetings!

        • Robin
          Posted on 3 November 2009

          LOL…no, I’m terribly grumpy myself, anyone would agree! But these do sound like they’re at least worth trying. I haven’t managed to do that yet myself.

    • Posted on 3 November 2009

      What if I try the scent and DON’T want to run away with him? What then? There’s a lot of weird stuff going on in that video, from the fact that the company is too poor to have a computer and she has to write everything by hand to the idea that if she runs away with him, she will lose everything else. Really? One or the other? Buy a computer lady, and use it to find someone who won’t make you choose between him and the job.

      • Robin
        Posted on 3 November 2009

        LOL…yes! All that woman needs is a good laptop. Even a iPhone might do the trick.

  4. Katich
    Posted on 3 November 2009

    Hahahaha oh man. Not sure whether to yawn, roll my eyes, or chortle, so I’ll go with all three.

  5. Posted on 3 November 2009

    Phew. I had a comment written, but was going to be first up, and didn’t want to be all negative. To wit: There are a LOT of potential college papers in this. Unbelievable. The best possible take on the message? Buy the perfume, so you don’t have to make the choice.

    Arrrrrrrrrrrrrgh. Fortunately, it’s a pleasure for me to put this right out of my mind…will still sniff the Threads.

    • Robin
      Posted on 3 November 2009

      Apparently they’ve entirely lost the message of Enjoli, LOL…

      • bergere
        Posted on 3 November 2009

        Or Charlie! Or Exclamation!

        Loved the blouse, but I wonder what business this woman’s in, if she can wear a braless little chiffon ruffle top to work?

        • Posted on 3 November 2009

          Even “Calgon, take me away” is less nettlesome. :) I know Enjoli and Charlie, but what was Exclamation!’s phrase?

          (off the fry up the bacon I brought home…)

          • Robin
            Posted on 3 November 2009

            I don’t know Exclamation’s tag line either. Bergere, do fill us in!

          • bergere
            Posted on 3 November 2009

            Unfortunately, it didn’t have a real tagline, just a cute musical hook (and I don’t have musical software, so I can’t write it down–”Ex-cla-may-shun! Ba dee dee doop!”). I used to love the ad because the cute young woman in it looked confident, happy, well-dressed, and ready to make her mark on the world. No angst about working hard her whole life, just to be derailed by some slacker dude demanding she give everything up for him.

    • sharviss
      Posted on 3 November 2009

      Agreed. This almost makes me want to go back to college just so I can write a paper about how insulting and stupid and insultingly stupid this ad is!

  6. RusticDove
    Posted on 3 November 2009

    Oy. That was excruciatingly lame.

  7. Sunnyfunny
    Posted on 3 November 2009

    You mean this wasn’t an ad for the fabulous shirt she was wearing?

  8. AnnS
    Posted on 3 November 2009

    Clearly this woman doesn’t work for a company that is laying people off? Gak. And yes the blouse is the best part of the ad.

    • Robin
      Posted on 3 November 2009

      Agree, I’ll take the blouse. Wouldn’t suit me though.

      • Bee
        Posted on 3 November 2009

        oh well, we all seem to like the blouse! any fashionista-perfumista around who has a clue about the designer?

      • AnnS
        Posted on 3 November 2009

        Wouldn’t work for me either… unless it was attached to a mumu.

        • Robin
          Posted on 3 November 2009

          Now I’m daydreaming about that blouse attached to a mumu. Yes, I need that.

  9. Dolly
    Posted on 3 November 2009

    This was awful. They need to take some direction from Jean-Baptiste Mondino. I wanted to “run” and get “away” from this.

    • Robin
      Posted on 3 November 2009

      Interestingly enough, it looks like La Prairie spent some real money on this campaign…I mean, there are a LOT of videos involved.

  10. 2scents
    Posted on 3 November 2009

    Ditto ditto ditto everything everybody said. Even for what it is, it is horribly done. Neither the life with “everything I’ve worked for” nor the lover and plane tickets were the least bit compelling. It seemed a choice between two bads. The blouse, however…

  11. Posted on 3 November 2009

    Ermmm … what does the video’s story have to do with the perfume? Looks more suited for a holiday destination campaign.

    I found her voice/tone a bit too forceful too. I thought it should have been a little unsure, a little soft. Made me think of a hard-nosed businesswoman ordering her employees around!

    I like her top though, very nice and suited for running away on a whim.

    Which brings me back to … how does it connect to a perfume called Life Threads Platinum?

    Too hard!

    • Robin
      Posted on 4 November 2009

      The perfumes are supposed to link to women’s stories. Weak link.

  12. asuperlongusername
    Posted on 4 November 2009

    At this point, they aren’t even funny anymore, just downright sad.

    And La Prarie continues to use voice actresses who completely ruin the mood. I know how horrible it sounds but if she’d just shut up, this would have been amazing.

    • Robin
      Posted on 4 November 2009

      The readings are terrible, it’s true.

  13. annemarie
    Posted on 4 November 2009

    There are perfumes that are empowering to women and were developed to be so. Miss Dior and Youth Dew come to mind, but there must be dozens of others. They proclaim: ‘I don’t need a man to show me how to be happy and fulfilled’, and they are from the 1950s. So how far have we come in the decades since then, with a market flooded with ultra feminine, fruity florals?

    And here’s a game: what perfume might one wear to accompany the moment when one tells the bloke in this video to go to hell?

    • Posted on 4 November 2009

      annemarie – I like this game!

      From my own collection which isn’t very big, only 10 strong, it would have to be Givenchy Very Irresistible – on my skin the patchouli goes to skank and I would wear it like armor to fend off any further advances he might make!

    • bergere
      Posted on 4 November 2009

      Ooh! Good question! I’d wear Cristalle edt (I had my secretary type up the Dear John letter), or Fracas (“I am Woman, don’t make me slap you”)

      • annemarie
        Posted on 4 November 2009

        I’ve never smelled Fracas but from what I have read, it sounds perfect.

        I’d be in Chanel 19, I think.

  14. pigoletto
    Posted on 4 November 2009

    Virginia Slims is probably looking at this thinking it’s a good time for a revival of their 70′s campaign – there’s more feminism in those old smokes ads than this one, for sure ;-D (do they even sell those cigs anymore? those things were miles long)

    • Robin
      Posted on 4 November 2009

      They still sell them…but they don’t advertise them.

  15. Daisy
    Posted on 4 November 2009

    what? are they 12? let’s run away….don’t tell dad. sheesh
    Watching was torture…I can’t even make myself watch the other two. Maybe she’s trotting around the city in the dark crossing streets because she’s hoping getting hit by a car would be better than being in these rotten videos! Maybe he just wants her to go on a fun weekend and she’s resisting….because she wants to stay home practicing her stern voice. Egad…if you’re going to muck up the already annoying ad…at least use a voice that doesn’t make me want to slap someone! okay, done now.

    • Robin
      Posted on 4 November 2009

      LOL at “don’t tell dad”…

  16. newsitian09@yahoo.com
    Posted on 4 November 2009

    “Life Threads. For the woman who can’t make up her mind.” Yeah that’s a great marketing angle. Market toward procrastinators. See how many buy it. Or not. Denise

    • Robin
      Posted on 4 November 2009

      LOL…yeah, that’s one way to look at it.

  17. zaheer
    Posted on 6 November 2009

    what a random ad.

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