Dior: timing Eau so Sauvage

I started writing this post mid-June when an inappropriate ad showed up. I was staying in Paris and Father's Day was approaching so all the Men's fragrance ads came up. While walking to the metro I stumbled upon the Dior Sauvage ad in the form of a rotating poster. I was shocked to see it since just the other day I was reading about the ongoing Depp/Heard case. I understand that advertisements are planned months in advance, but the timing, the name and the ambassador choice for the brands fragrance were untimely! 'Sauvage', coming from French which translates to savage (brutal, wild), was an innocent product name until now when Johnny Depp is being accused of domestic violence.

Well, I haven't been immune to the infamous case, as my favourite gossip site keeps me updated. After reading about who accused whom of what I went to my favourite part - the comments section (as I always do) - to see what real people actually think of the situation. I was shocked to see how people without having any proof, or actually knowing the whole truth, quickly chose sides. Surprise surprise, about 90% were either protecting Johnny or trashing Amber, and only 10% actually stood up for her and believed that there was a chance that she was telling the truth. When on Facebook, I saw one of my friends liked this article by The Huffington Post called "We Have to Stop Protecting Famous Men", so I chose to investigate it. It's a good read, I definitely recommend it as the author doesn't take sides in this particular case, but explains how we as observers regard such situations.

The ads in Paris didn't stay up for long - I guess I wasn't the only person who found it extremely inappropriate, offensive and immoral. What bothers me however is that I still see the Dior Sauvage ad, not on big billboards anymore, but in departments stores around Europe in the makeup and fragrance sections. I personally believe that out of respect to victims of domestic violence the brand should either take the ads down or replace them with a campaign starring a new ambassador.

 All I can say is that the timing of it is very poor, very Sauvage.