Followup: Roundup, Curves

Now with numbered sections. (Because that's what all the cool kids are doing these days.)

Just a little follow-up on the last few days...

1.
The Lake House opened yesterday. The reviews I've read so far have been mixed, but they helpfully pointed out that the film is actually based on a Korean film by the name of Siworae or, Il Mare (The Sea; working English title.). And as it turns out, I have seen Siworae.

I've been extrememly impressed with the few examples of contemporary Korean cinema that I've come across: My Sassy Girl, Old Boy and Il Mare. But what I realised as I was thinking about this is that all the films I just mentioned have plot-lines that rely heavily on the passage of time and questions of 'then' and 'now'.

I don't know if this is a common theme throughout the Korean oevre, but it makes one wonder why this might be so.

2.
Also, a little more info on the process and results of Dove's adverts.

As it turns out, this campaign is actually a couple of few years old. And while it was to sell product, Unilever (Dove's parent company) seems to have taken a novel and unusually honest approach to the issue:

Find a number of diverse, real women (no models)
Ask them to use the product
Shoot the results with a fantastic photographer in a classic beauty shoot setup
Show the results without retouching or manipulating the images

This is, I think, quite commendable in itself.

And, from the figures, it seems to have worked:

The business results surpassed all expectations, with Firming Lotion sales exceeding forecast by 110 percent in Western Europe (June 2004). In the UK, Dove Firming Lotion sales rose from 280,000 bottles in 2003 to 2.3 million bottles in the first six months of 2004. And Dove Firming body variants are now bigger than lotion or milk variants.

Source: Ogilvy.com.

The fact is, Unilever exists to sell product. And in this day and age, to sell product you need to advertise.

Now, they could have gone with the usual skinny, airbrushed and made-up stuff that usually headlines a product. Instead, they chose to be creative and honest - or at least, as 'honest' as one can be in an area such as advertising.

So, the point of all this was to say that one shouldn't forget that it is advertising. But it does try to challenge popular (mis)conceptions of what beauty is.

And I'll drink to that any day.

Good Feeling
Violent Femmes
From the album Violent Femmes

Good feeling
Won't you stay with me just a little longer?
It always seems like your leaving
When I need you here just a little longer

Dear lady there's so many things
That I have come to fear
Little voice says I'm going crazy
To see all my worlds disappear

Vague sketch of a fantasy
Laughing at the sunrise
Like he's been up all night
Oh slippin' and slidin'
What a good time but now
Have have to find a bed
That can take this wait

Good feeing
Won't you say stay with me just a little longer
It always seems like your leaving
When I know the other one
Just a little too well

Oh dear lady
Won't you stay with me just a little longer?
Y'know it always seems like your leaving
When I need you here just a little longer

Great weekend, all.