Written by Tramanh Le for Jezebel www.jezebel.com
Two years after the launch of Versace Eros in 2012, Versace launched Eros Pour Femme. The story of Eros continues when the ad opens with the return of the male model from the 2021 campaign entering the same mysterious setting. He is again shirtless to show a sculpture-like muscular physique holding a bow and arrow to symbolize the Greek god Eros. A few seconds later, we see a slim, female figure with an elegant pose floating towards the light from the dark water. From her silhouette, you can see she wears a dress with gladiator sandals, which continues the Greek motif. When the female model emerges from the water, the two encounter each other.
In this snapshot, there is a sensual scene where the female model, Lara Stone, slowly brushes Eros’s hand to take the golden arrow. Enchanting music accompanies this scene to help create a dramatic effect for the seduction of Eros by Lara Stone. Although this sensual act is supposed to symbolize the strength of women, her strength is only validated by the ability to seduce a male. In the 2012 Versace Eros campaign, there was only a male actor, who was accompanied by a fast-paced and intense soundtrack. This choice in focusing on just the male model assumes that men are powerful by themselves and do not need to have a woman to contribute to this power. However, a woman’s strength is characterized by the ability to successfully seduce a male. This depiction of women is a common trend in advertising with a woman depicted as a support or the seductress next to a man.
In this last snapshot, the light from Olympus shines on Lara Stone as she lies on her side with a seductive pose while holding the golden arrow she had successfully taken from Eros. Placed next to her is an enlarged, glamorous, and golden fragrance bottle adorned with the iconic Versace Medusa head. In contrast to this scene, the Eros campaign’s ending scene is dark and mysterious with a turquoise blue bottle, which has historically been a color associated with males. We can see the different marketing techniques companies use in order to sell specifically to men and women. This bright and gold bottle is for women, while this dark and blue one is for men.
Not only does the bottle look like it is for women, but the fragrance smells feminine. The words pour femme show that this fragrance is the female scent interpretation of Versace Eros cologne. Those words also state that this perfume is only for women. The heart of the Pour Femme fragrance contains jasmine infusion and jasmine sambac absolute, which Versace states on their website, “conveys an authentic and timeless femininity.” Unlike its counterpart, Versace Eros does not have floral notes that dominate the scent. The Versace website states that the fragrance was supposed to “interpret the sublime masculinity through a luminous aura with an intensely vibrant and glowing freshness.” My question is what determines which scents are feminine or masculine. The answer is the cultural and societal frameworks that have constructed certain scents as either feminine or masculine, not that we are biologically wired to do so. Perfume companies have taken advantage of these frameworks and contributed to the manufactured idea of gendered smells in order to sell products specific to men and women separately. Because we associate floral scents with femininity, it shows normativity of gendered scents.
Versace Eros Pour Femme | Fragrances – YouTube
I really enjoyed reading this blog post! I hadn’t considered before how perfume ads reinforce gender roles. On top of the absurd beauty standards of the models in typical perfume ads, I enjoyed how you pointed to the creation of gendered scents by the distinction between masculine and feminine perfumes. Smell is one of our more powerful senses, and the way we use scents to do gender is a very interesting topic. I also liked your point about how female are typically seducing or serving a male in ads. I wonder how effective or jarring it would be for a male perfume ad to depict a man using his perfume to woo someone else. Thanks for sharing such a thought-provoking post, I will certainly look at perfume ads with a new lens in the future.