This Italian ad for CAMPARI an alcoholic beverage interested me because I argue is a commentary on gender as performance. A while ago my friend emailed it to all her friends and this sparked a dialogue among us. Is this ad sending a heteronormative message or not? Advertisements tell the audience that by acquiring X product you acquire something extra; this ad does the same but takes a different route to do so. It is not the “typical” ad selling beer or vodka which is usually directed to a heterosexual male gaze and is saying: if you consume this product you can get sex, status or power. This ad breaks the heterosexual male gaze by crossdressing or crossgendering its characters. In this interpretation I intend to analyze the ad’s contents and the meaning of some symbolic objects that is uses. I also want to argue that even though it functions within a capitalist economy, it challenges some heteronormative assumptions of gender. CAMPARI is a red colored aperitif. CAMPARI’s advertisement strategy seems to underline the seductive quality of the color red of the liquor. Through this particular ad, the publicists want to propose CAMPARI as sensual and transgressive.
The ad does not have any dialogue, we just hear a constant sound track of music that is monotone and that incorporates a low tone humming that becomes more intense to enhance the developing actions. The closer the characters to bumping into each other, the fastest the rhythm of the sound track. Although there is no dialogue, we read into the messages that each shot provides. From shots 1 – 29 the audience is most likely convinced that both characters are a “biological” man and a “biological” woman. (Some transsexual activists however, prefer the terminology non-trans man and non-trans woman to question also “the biological” as a natural or a given.) We can argue then that a heterosexual audience sees both characters as a normative heterosexual couple playing the game of flirting.
Gender is performed by both characters. “Realness” seems to be implied in the way in which each of the characters is portrayed. Both characters, comfortably and assertively, perform a gender identity in the context of what I take to be a heterosexual cocktail party. Since the end is meant to be shocking and “transgressive”, there is a rupture in the gaze of the audience. That is, if you are a non-trans man watching the ad and you identify with the male character this identification is broken when he reveals his binded breasts and unties his long hair. What is this ad telling us? It seems that in a way heterosexuality as we know it fails, it is not fulfilled. The male audience’s desires, carried by the male character in the ad, are not fulfilled because by having a drink of CAMPARI he doesn’t reach the beautiful “biological” woman. Instead, he is faced by a woman revealing a male chest who removes her lipstick with her hand. It is in this site, where I argue that, even though the final scene is played by two characters of opposite sexes, the final message is not a heteronormative one.
CAMPARI’s colors are red, blue and white. The letters are white, the outline is blue and the liquor is red. We see these colors throughout the ad. The first scenes are predominantly white. The most noticeable source of white is the big chandelier that is seen in several shots as background. The stairs in the establishing shot are also white. Later, we see the blue setting with the swimming pool which again precedes the climax or most passionate moment of the ad. This final action takes place in a room that is predominantly red. The carpet is the main source of red. It is inevitable to not be guided through the soundtrack of the ad. It is a powerful voice that warms the audience up for the development of actions. However, the ad does not have a narrator. Who is telling us the story? The story is told through the characters and the audience plays the role of voyeuristic spectators. They can choose to identify with either one of the characters, be seduced and be betrayed.
Perhaps the marketing strategy was geared to attracting both queer and non-queer audiences and to reassure both gazes with the ending of the ad. However, I argue that in this ad heterosexuality fails because the characters are attracted to their difference. Even after revealing their crossgendering, there is still desire. The desire however exists not because they have opposite sexes but because they perform and reveal gender in a transgressive way in the heterosexual context of a cocktail party.
1. 0:00:00 – 0:00:02 ELS of woman going up the stairs. The camera cranes in a little bit. (We only see her back, we don’t see her face yet). It is also a establishing shot. The focus is on the wide white stairs that get thin in the center and then wide again. There are a lot of people on the main floor, sitting, chatting, etc. It is a cocktail party. Some people are holding glasses in their hands. The shot includes the ceiling which has large circular lamps that occupy the upper thirds of the shot. They call a lot of attention. The general lighting of the set is white. Music: The music starts from the beginning as a sort of humming of maybe wind instruments with some percussion.
2. 0:00:00 – 0:00:02 MS of a young man dressed in a tuxedo next to a bar. His race is undecipherable. He looks Asian, Native American or mixed. He is looking at the woman going up the stairs. He has a shot of an alcoholic beverage next to his hand, but he is not holding it. There is a full bottle of this beverage next to the glass. You can see a glimpse of the waiter’s arm.
3. 0:00:03 – 0:00:04 ELS low angle camera (from bottom of stairs) of the woman going up the stairs. She is wearing a black dress. She is also young looking and looks White. The dress is tied to her neck and the endings of the neck ties go down her back, the rest of her back is uncovered. She goes up a few steps and places an empty glass of a drink on a trail of a waiter who is coming down the stairs. There are two different woman-man couples in each side of the stairs who look like they are having conversations. The action of the main character is happening right underneath a big chandelier.
4. 0:00:04 – 0:00:05 ELS of the same shot above but from a high angle i.e. from the top of the stairs. The woman continues to place her drink on the trail.
5. 0:00:05 – 0:00:07 MS of woman turning around in the direction of the man by the bar. Again a low angle. The big chandelier is behind her. In the shot you can still see the waiter continuing to go down stairs.
6. 0:00:07 – 0:00:09 CU of the man by the bar. He faces her. Their eye lines match. There is a shot-reverse-shot and we now see a CU of her. Music: a (oooooom ooooooooom and other intelligible words with really deep low voice) is introduced. The soft percussion continues and it starts marking a rhythm.
7. 0:00:09 – 0:00:10 LS of woman who turns back and continues going up the stairs.
8. 0:00:10 – 0:00:11 CU of the man’s hand grabbing the glass of liquor which is red looking. Next to it there is the bottle of CAMPARI.
9. 0:00:11 – 0:00:12 LS of man as he takes the drink off the table and gives a step towards the direction of the woman.
10. 0:00:12 – 0:00:13 cuts to MS of him facing the stairs. Background is a ELS of stairs with lots of people around, having cocktail party conversations. He gives a couple more steps.
11. 0:00:14 – 0:00:15 LS of him going up the stairs. At the top of the stairs we see the woman who continues to walk.
12. 0:00:15 – 0:00:17 rapid cut to CU of woman’s feet reaching the last stair. Her feet rapidly reach the stair and disappear from the shot. Leaving an empty space and in the background the chandelier and half second later a glimpse of the man’s head. Music: a violin starts soflty.
13. 0:00:17 – 0:00:18 LS of man who enters another room. This room has a red carpet, there are several lamps throughout. It is smaller and exiting the room in the background of the shot we see the woman.
14. 0:00:18 - 00:00:19 CU of man from a low angle who’s holding his drink on his hand. He thinks for half of a second and then instead of following her he exits the shot from the left side (to show that he goes somewhere else).
15. 0:00:19 – 0:00:20 MS of the man from behind his shoulder. He is next to a rail and he is looking down to the first floor. We see the woman again; she is facing away from us. There is a shot-reverse-shot were we see the woman from the front and him in the second level in the background.
16. 0:00:24 – 0:00:25 back to a CU of the man, he is holding his drink with his left hand. He enters another room. This room has blue lighting that is very dim. All the tones in the room are blue. It has a small circular swimming pool which is blue too. He looks toward his left.
17. 0:00:25 – 0:00:26 cuts to a LS of the woman’s silhouette seen through a panel of opaque glasses that separate the blue room from the outside. She is outside walking towards some other place.
18. 0:00:27 – 0:00:28 cuts back to LS of man who turns in her direction rapidly. He wants to reach her.
19. 0:00:28 – 0:00:29 CU of the woman. She is not looking at the camera but beyond. She is in focus and behind her, out of focus, the man with the drink in his hand who is running towards her but without looking.
20. 0:00:29 – 0:00:30 MS of both the man running towards her and the woman who turns around to face him.
21. 0:00:30 – 0:00:31 a very quick high angle shot of both and some surprise in their faces.
22. 0:00:30 – 0:00:31 cuts to a CU of man who stumbles a little…
23. 0:00:30 - 0:00:31 and CU of the woman’s chest as he drops his drink on her drink and skin that is not covered by dress.
24. 0:00:31 – 0:00:32 tighter CU of man’s face showing surprise and a little anxiety for what he just did. Music: while all of these interaction goes on music is back to the oooom oooooom lower voice monotonous rhythm.
25. 0:00:33 – 0:00:35 Double MS of both the man who is still astonished and the woman who is looking at her dress.
26. 0:00:35 – 0:00:36 CU of woman’s face, who seems upset yet gentle.
27. 0:00:36 – 0:00:37 from behind the woman we see a slight low angle of her bringing her hands towards her neck to untie her dress. The man is still standing in front of her.
28. 0:00:38 – 0:00:39 back to a CU of her face, her hands untying her dress. She looks intensely at him.
29. 0:00:40 – 0:00:41 MS of the woman, as she undoes her dress and pulls the ties down revealing her chest which is a “biological” man’s chest. Behind her in the background there is a clock. Within the shot, we see him, staring at her.
30. 0:00:41 – 0:00:42 CU of man’s face looking intensely at her newly revealed chest. He’s not disgusted. He stares in awe.
31. 0:00:42 – 0:00:44 double MS of the man and the woman who still has her dress undone and who proceeds to remove her red lipstick with the top of her hand. They continue to hold each other’s gaze.
32. 0:00:45 – 0:00:46 CU of woman’s face with smeared lipstick.
33. 0:00:46 – 0:00:47 CU of man who smiles and looks down and then back at her.
34. 0:00:47 – 0:00:49 MS of man who starts undoing his shirt revealing a binder. We see this from behind the uncovered woman’s back.
35. 0:00:50 – 0:00:51 CU of binder that hides his “biological” women’s breasts.
36. 0:00:51 – 0:00:54 CU of woman who smiles, and then MS of man who undoes his hear revealing long dark hair. They look at each other passionately.
37. Final shot LS of both persons. They are facing each other. He’s hair is undone, he’s shirt unbuttoned. He is still holding his drink. The woman’s dress is still undone. He is still revealing a “bio” male’s chest. They are standing very close to each other. They are looking at each other intensely. You can feel their desire. Inserted the logo: CAMPARI and underneath Red Passion appear in the screen occupying the other half of the shot. Above the logo the clock seen in a previous shot marking midnight.
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