Wow, new level of crazy unhealthy- I just had to Google what
a health club is. Was slightly embarrassed until I realised it’s a fancy gym, now I feel nothing but pride within myself. Gyms are the devils work, just
like jeggings, you go into them with so much hope
and excitement and leave broken, sweaty and feeling slightly judged. Destroy them, please. I will not be
associated with these evil establishments.
Super fancy hotel chain, the Four Seasons, has decided to
advertise their health clubs and they’re not doing it too badly. Not great either; just a bit meh. To be honest I’m a bit sick of these kinds
of ads with this kind of font, and this kind of style, it just seems to be
everywhere right now and it’s become a bit generic. Need to make something look
fun and expensive? Make sure your font is curly! The more expensive, the
curlier! This shit is barely legible; it’s curling and swirling all over the
place.
I genuinely find this concept cool. Most people enjoy the
idea of being gross, and doing it in fancy places is even better- probably why
every hotel lobby smells like covered up fart. It’s a nice concept and it’s
just the art direction that has me a bit confused. I don’t understand why the
words seem to be on steel, why do you want me to think of metal? Is it just for
aesthetic appeal? Am I supposed to be linking it with gym machinery? I have no
idea. It makes me feel like there’s a joke I’m just not getting, which is not
an enjoyable feeling at all.
If you can get away from the visual, the concept and the
tagline are quite funny. I think the tagline is great “everything’s nicer in
our health clubs” and it links up with the headline well, it gave me a bit of a
giggle. I am also extremely grateful that I don’t have to look at another
really perky woman standing with towels behind her neck[1].
I can see that they are trying to do something different and that is great, I
just wish they could’ve taken the idea further; sweating and grunting are not
even close to the grossest things that go on at gyms- have you ever been in a
change room? Or a yoga class? Or swim-aerobics? Gross, hilarious places.
Admittedly these are probably the best Four Seasons adverts
out there, an intense Google search reveals nothing (went all the way to page
four, crazy!), so the client must have quite a reign of terror over the ad
agencies “ONLY SHOW PALM TREES! MORE SMILES! NOW!!!”. What a horrible thing to
do, there’s nothing worse than seeing a great product- something that could
become a fantastic brand being decimated by an old fashioned attitude towards
advertising. I completely agree with having to keep your style and company
ethos relevant in your advertising but there are so many interesting things you
could do while respecting your companies philosophy.
I feel like the team that came up with this advert was made
up of a really funky, strange copywriter and a prudish boring art-director. The
two styles don’t mesh well, and they’re not creating interesting contrast as
much as an uncomfortable clash. All in all, fun concept bad execution.
[1] Do people
really wear towels all the time at gyms and if they do, why? Surely sweating
into a towel is grosser than just sweating on yourself or is it used as some
sort of neck protection? Collecting a pile of your own fluids in fabric seems a
whole new level of disgusting.
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