Marie Dolby Final Spoof

Not a Fantasy, but a Reality 

5/3/12

For my spoof ad, I wanted to have fun and not only poke fun at a brand but at a celebrity as well.  So, I chose to do the fragrance Fantasy by Britney Spears.  I changed the name to Reality implying that people are not always what their image says they are.  I wanted to do a take off of our discussions in class about Tiger Woods and his effect on Nike and golf in general.   When Britney’s first perfume was launched, it was very popular and an in demand product.  But as Britney’s career came to a stand still while she married a loser, had kids, made questionable parenting decisions, and then got divorced, her fragrances were losing their flare.  After a little time, she was still acting out in public wearing little to no clothes, partying too much, and experimenting with the party lifestyle people were starting to make fun of her and see her true colors.  People no longer wanted to be Britney Spears, let alone smell like her.

            I wanted to re-create the print ad, which is a basic two-sided layout.  One side has a beautifully edited picture of Britney in her prime, and the other side shows the logo and perfume bottle.  I also wanted to make the little “Reality Check” sleeves for the sample perfume bottles.  These reality checks are to remind people that you are your own brand and if you let yourself go, the brand will not stand in a good light on its own.  Putting a new picture of Britney was key.  Not only is this picture recent, it is a better depiction of who she is.  Lets be real, she does not still look like she did about 10 years ago.  Fortunately, she seems on a good track of life at the moment, but I do not think that her image as a complete mess will change overnight.  Her fans even made comments such as “Spears is definitely not the hottest and prettiest star our there at the moment, but her perfume is still good” which proves that it is indeed the product that is saving her, because clearly she is not helping herself when it comes to a good reputation.

            I am new to Adobe Photoshop, but Dana (in our class) did help me out.  She taught me a lot of techniques that I can carry with me through the rest of the class and outside of class as well.  I wanted to keep the same colors as the original ad portrayed like the blue overlay, but still make sure Britney looked like her true self.  I think I brought a good sense of humor to this ad.  Since Britney Spears is a globally known pop icon, many people can understand what just a simple change of name on the fragrance means.  If a celebrity is going to have a self-named brand, it is important that they not only stand by their brand but also maintain a good reputation.  Time, effort, money, and jobs are all at risk and from a business standpoint, putting all of that at risk for partying is unacceptable.  Britney should have kept herself together not only for her children and her own well being, but also for her brand.  My weakness  in this project was my lack of experience with Photoshop but I think I did pretty well.   Britney looks like the mess she is and the typeface I feel is dead on.  It took me a while, but I learned a lot on the way and that is what I find to be more rewarding out of this process. 

Sources: Perfume.com – customer reviews

This is the original ad

My ad

Additional Media (sample bottles)