Gucci Guilty

Am I the only one who gets a little bored seeing “scandalizing” skin flashing ad campaigns for perfumes? I mean, I loved the cute and girly approach Miss Dior Cherie took. I also liked the commercial for Covet. And just to be fair, those were two perfumes I blasted. Now Guilty, on the other hand, it’s a fine perfume. Very interesting release for Gucci actually. But its ad campaign is once again one of those show as much skin, have as much writhing as possible, dealies that’s so overexposed that the ads are just boring now. I’m not a prude. In fact, I’m the opposite of offended and/or shocked. I’m just bored to tears by racy ad campaigns and I wonder if anyone else is also tired of the age old adage that “sex sells”. They even had Frank Miller come in, and he gave the commercial a fabulous look and feel–it’s just too bad it boils down to the sexualization of a fragrance. Oh, right, we’re doing a fragrance review.

Guilty

In Bottle: Fruity citrus topper with a spicy kick. Pink pepper, is that you again? Wow, it’s like I’m seeing you an awful lot around these parts now.

Applied: Pink pepper’s on the verge of becoming one of those overused trump cards in perfumes. It seems there’s an awful lot of fragrances released lately with pink pepper thrown in there for a bit of spice. It works well in Guilty, giving the top fruity citrus notes a bit more complexity than they’d have otherwise. The fragrance heads into its middle stage still smelling fruity with a lingering bit of pepper as the florals come up with a bit of sweetness to keep Guilty young and approachable. The florals being lilac and geranium, neither of which are very heavy hitters, are really sheer so the mid-stage smells mostly fruity with the pepper receding into the background. The dry down is marked with a surprisingly interesting warm smooth amber and cleaned up patchouli. I’m surprised Guilty used those two to end on an oriental note and I was happy to note how pleasant it all was and how nicely it rounded itself off at the end.

Extra: Guilty’s commercial and ad campaign is a benign drop of raciness in an ocean of racy perfume ads. It’s nothing special to behold and in the end, despite its big ticket production, the ads fall flat on me. However, the perfume was good so I’m glad I looked beyond the ad and got to what matters.

Design: Fascinating little glass bottle encased in a gold outer shell. It reminds me of 1 Million. I can’t say I’m a fan of metallic outer shell bottles like this but it looks all right. The elements are balancing, the shape is appealing and the logo is used in a rather clever way. Not my favorite design but not bad at all.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Oriental

Notes: Mandarin, pink pepper, peach, lilac, geranium, amber, patchouli.

So is Guilty as racy as its ad campaign wants you to believe? No. It’s a benign office scent that smells like flowers and warm amber. I guess that’s another part of why these sexy commercials bore me. Very rarely do they ever advertise a fragrance that’s actually sensual. Guilty’s main appeal to me is actually in how wearable and inoffensive it is. This stuff smells like a grey dress with long sleeves, a high collar, and an ankle hem. It is not, in other words, your little black number.

Reviewed in This Post: Guilty, 2010, Eau de Toilette.

4 thoughts on “Gucci Guilty

  1. I completely agree with you on the whole raciness thing. I find it completely unnecessary. Why would perfume companies put naked women in ads for perfumes that are created for women? I can understand when it’s “for men”, a la Black Orchid for Men by TF (…which I do find disgusting, BTW), but when it’s orientated at me, I can only roll my eyes…

    • You bring up a really interesting point for perfumes, that I hadn’t thought of. Why on Earth DO they put scantily clad women in perfume commercials meant for women when it’s supposed to be sex appeal related marketing anyway? The same happens for men sometimes. The latest example I can think of being Bang by Marc Jacobs.

      I haven’t seen much of the ad campaign for Black Orchid. Maybe I should go look it up. Thanks, dovile!

      • Oops! When I said Black Orchid, I totally meant Tom Ford For Men. 😛 Check this one out:
        http://www.007museum.com/tomford.jpg

        Seriously?
        As for Bang… Well, I was wondering about that one as well. Why would a heterosexual man buy a perfume that has a naked oily man in its ad? The only explanations I find it that it’s targeted at girlfriends/wives. 🙂

        • Haha, I can only imagine how that would go over. “Here, honey, if you use this perfume you can look like Marc Jacobs too!”

          Having just taken a look at Tom Ford for Men, I’m going to have say, “Yikes!” definitely agree with you on that one, it was rather unnecessary. Though on a purely marketing point of view, I bet it was memorable at least.

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