Saturday, December 30, 2006

ESPN and the sexy Acqua di Gio commercial


My wife and I were watching ESPN the other night when a very sexy 30-second commercial aired for Giorgio Armani’s Acqua di Gio. Filmed in partial septia-tones, the spot features a shirtless muscular male looking straight into the camera. Seawater and perspiration are dripping down his torso.

“Why is that ad running on ESPN?” my wife asked. “Good question,” I thought to myself. The spot is very uncharacteristic of anything you’ll see on ESPN. Any sex in advertising on this network is likely to feature playful Coors Light parties with bikini-babes making snowballs and hot-tubbing.

After a debate that bounced from speculation about the number of gay athletes who watch sports to comparisons to Cosmopolitan covers, I finally convinced her that the ad was “aspirational,” like the many sexy ads for perfume, fashion and fragrance featuring women in Cosmo and Glamour. My wife definitely found the ad appealing, the same way that many men adore the pictures in Victoria’s Secret catalogs. The message in the spot is along the lines of “if you want to look like this guy, feel like this guy, or elicit a reaction from your wife like this guy…get yourself some Gio.”


I didn’t find any Armani under the tree this year. Oh wait, the ad wasn't targeted to her, it was targeted to me.

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