Bluefly Takes It All Off

If you were throwing a fancy party and couldn’t find anything you wanted to wear in your closet, the best solution would be simply to walk downstairs into your party naked – right?   

That seems to be the premise behind Bluefly’s new ad campaign.  Bluefly is an online store for fashionable clothes and accessories.  But it appears they’re trying to change their image from “discount” to “hip.”    They’ve launched a new national ad campaign where they attempt to answer the question “why do women shop?”

The website features two ads – one seems to imply if you can’t find anything fashion-worthy in your closet, your next best choice is to go to the party naked.  The other ad features a wife who catches her husband lying to her (cheating) about being with another woman.   This ad seems to be implying – if you’re wearing fashionable clothes, you’ll enjoy kicking your cheating husband in the balls even more.   

While I must admit the second resonates a tad more with me –  I’m wondering how women feel about this ad campaign.  And what does it say when two of the prime outlets for your target demo, Oxygen and Lifetime, refuse to even run your ads?

On their website – the link to the ads reads “BLUEFLY BUZZ -  see our new ad”  - I think that says it all.  Bluefly is going for “buzz.”   They’re trying to create a “sensation.”  They want to get people “talking.”   They think being “edgy” in their advertising will make people think of them as “hip.”    But what emotional reaction do people really have to these ads?

I don’t know what emotion the first ad, I’ll call “naked dinner party”, is supposed to be tapping into.  Are they going for humor?   I’m curious as to what other women think.  My only emotion was…..eeeeek.   Ok, not sure if eeeek is an emotion – so let’s just call it  - uncomfortable.    The second ad, I’ll call “cheating husband” taps into the emotion of revenge, standing up for yourself, perhaps even power.  But I don’t know if they did a good enough job of tying those emotions in with the clothing the woman is wearing.  I think it would actually have been a more powerful commercial for cell phones.

I would LOVE to know what you think about these commercials – men and women – if you’ve got an opinion, I’d love to hear it.     View the ads at www.thatswhyibluefly.com/

Comments

[Andrea Learned]

I had a "huh?" response when I first saw the ads, and then read about the edginess of the campaign in marketing trade publications. I remember really thinking BlueFly was clever when it first launched way back when, but I lost interest over time and these ads do nothing to draw me back in. I'm not sure who they are targeting.. but it isn't me - and my "demographic profile" (as well as yours, I suspect, Holly) is likely in their target group. So...I'm guessing the buzz will be a high-flying flurry, but the actual response by the consumers will be minor. We shall see...

[Yvonne DiVita]

I clicked in, Holly, but only saw the naked ad. From your description, both ads miss the mark with women -- of a certain IQ. That may be self-serving, but intelligent women will see this for what it is: pandering.

Here's another thought -- men will not respond to this ad, either. What man wants his woman attending anything, especially a party, naked? Plus, the men I talk to would consider that blonde ditz too skinny for words.

Oh well. Naked women are attention getters, aren't they? I clicked around the site and saw some interesting items -- which don't need naked women to sell them.

This attempt at edginess gets a big yawn from me.

[Mary Schmidt]

I don't think any of us in this thread are in the target demographic for this one. That said, it was sorta cute the first time I saw it - but, c'mon - do we really want to see commercials with such shallow women? (even clothed.)

And, what's up with the Blue Fly web site? Looks more like an advertising agency than a company that wants to sell clothing. Your point of differentation is that you do commercials with naked women? Wow, like that "selling with sex" has never been done before. Yawn two/too.

[Rocky]

I didn't get the commercial at all, I had no idea what they were trying to sell. As a woman, I thought at first, the commercial was trying to catch mens' eyes (b/c of the naked woman). Then, I thought it was just dumb and a little gross (because she was offering food naked). I felt uncomfortable for her guests.

[TR]

The commercial was to some dgree shocking. It did attract my attention. I did check the web page for the company as a result of seeing the commercial.
She is a very attractive woman.
Has she acted anywhere else?

[Gerald]

These ads simply escalate what shock value means. As a man, they get my attention. I must say, the one with the couple getting ready for a show and then ditching it because the man , having watched his woman get dressed, can't help himself, is (a) cute, (b) something I've experienced at least a few times, and (c) when I've acted on it, has made my wife quite happy. So, the lesson there at least is, buy clothes that will make your man want to take them off.

Apart from that, smart women using their analytical skills to justify their discomfort at an ad that sells clothes on the basis of sex appeal seems like wasted energy--many ads sell on the basis of sex appeal. Men tend not to raise a fuss. If nothing else, it's funny. Let's get on with things, huh?

[Gordon]

I think you need to watch "We're Going To Be Late" again. I'm not sure where you came up w/ the idea that she caught her husband cheating. Unless there was another ad there before that's been removed?

[tory]

The Catch commercial fro bluefly who is the actress in that commercial with the short brown hair she is a lawyer

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