I don’t know how many of you saw the recent Bisazza ad which ran in interiors magazines such as Elle Deco and Wallpaper, but it was considered so objectionable that it was banned by the ASA. It was part of a series of ads using images by Japanese photographer, Nobuyoshi Araki, who is known for his semi-pornographic photographs, especially of Kinbaku (Japanese bondage).
Bisazza’s own take on the ads is given on their website, where the ad can also be seen: “Expressing Araki’s original and highly recognised style, the provocative yet iconic campaign represents Araki’s personal interpretation of the Bisazza brand.
As usual, the central protagonist of Araki’s shots is an oriental woman, most often tied as per the ancient art of Japanese bondage or kinbaku. Her look (glance), with its strong evocative force, involves the observer into an emotional reflection (sic).”
The ads have certainly made people talk about Bisazza, below are a couple of sample comments from an internet blog.
“I'm guessing they wanted something artsy fartsy to appeal to professional interior designers who are their most important conduit for sales.
And add me to the chorus of "wtf does this have to do with tile?"”
"Our tiles are the perfect accessory for violent role-play rape"? Is that what they're trying to say?””
Bisazza has always tried to be clever and different with its advertising, giving us vespas covered in mosaic etc and I would guess that they were trying to link the fact that you get an emotional reaction when you view Bisazza mosaics with the emotional reaction caused by the images, and that the comment about interior designers is probably closest to the money.
But it still seems bizarre to me: far from representing Araki’s personal interpretation of the Bisazza brand, which is about Italian style and luxury, it represents Araki’s obsession with Oriental porn. Quite why they should have picked Araki as the perfect candidate to represent the Bisazza brand rather than someone, perhaps Italian, known for beautiful, non-pornographic images perhaps of interiors or natural objects such as the flowers that they often use in their tile designs, I don’t know, but as one of the comments said “Ad fail”. Yes, try and stimulate and excite people’s interest, but don’t wander so far away from what your company stands for that you end up missing the point altogether and, in this case, getting the ad banned as well. Bisazza’s target audience are not the same as FCUK’s where getting the ads banned did do wonders for sales. Elle Deco and Wallpaper’s readers are much more sophisticated than that.
