This month: Icons make a comeback, Dua Lipa learns tennis, “The Handmaid’s Tale” gets roasted and more
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No. 5: Dua Lipa and Emma Raducanu x Evian
There’s nothing more entertaining than watching celebrities be bad at something. In a recent campaign from Evian, professional tennis player Emma Raducanu, attempts to give pop star Dua Lipa tennis lessons, and it turns into a charming montage of missed swings, goofy banter and lots of laughter, especially when Dua Lipa flips the script to teach Raducanu a few dance moves. The spot, from Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam, quenches all thirst for having a little fun in a category drenched in sweaty, overly-serious ads.
No. 4: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Patricia Arquette, Kesha, Gus Kenworthy and more x Cann, Weedmaps
Weedmaps and THC seltzer Cann combined forces this Pride to deliver a truly show-stopping celebration of queerness. The rainbow-colored music video for “Taste So Good” unites LGBTQ+ talent and allies for a saucy little number that is sure to get dance clubs on their feet this month. Combining the powers of camp (Patricia Arquette magically shape-shifting into Kesha), sex (singer Hayley Kiyoko and “RuPaul’s Drag Race” star Kerri Colby frenching a can of Cann) and some mind-altering substances (“A little buzz without the booze,” whispers Gus Kenworthy seductively), this campaign is any Pride parade wrapped up in three minutes, but with more famous people.
No. 3: Katy Perry x Just Eat
A partnership with U.K. delivery brand Just Eat was likely a piece of cake for Katie Perry. A music video made with agency McCann and production company Radical Media is a visual wonderland. Directed by “Firework” and “Swish Swish” director Dave Meyers, the lively production features not just energetic camerawork, but animation, puppetry and computer-generated magic alongside the custom track from Perry. And those costumes are a feast! Literally, the food-themed wardrobe elevates this over-the-top spectacle to absolute perfection.
No. 2: Spike Lee x Nike, Harry Styles x Apple
Two ad world icons made a comeback this month. For Nike’s 50th anniversary, it revived its revered Mars Blackmon character, played by Spike Lee. The ad takes viewers through athleticwear history through Blakcmon’s signature mile-a-minute style, punctuated by hyper-edited sports clips and images. This time, Blackmon is joined by a new character, Zimmie, played by actress Indigo Hubbard-Salk, who matches Lee’s high intensity with an eye for the future over Blackmon’s nostalgia.
Despite officially discontinuing the iPod, Apple revived its legendary “Silhouettes” ad format for its AirPods, featuring buzzy singer Harry Styles. The vibrantly colored minute, via agency TBWA/Media Arts Lab, sees Styles and a cast of other high-contrast shadows groove in trippy, kaleidoscopic fashion to Style’s new track “Music for a Sushi Restaurant.” Rather than accept pay for his appearance, Styles reportedly requested Apple donate to the International Rescue Committee instead.
No. 1: Margaret Atwood x Penguin Random House
They say all art is a form of protest. Margaret Atwood has racked up some serious artist points, then, as she protests censorship by taking a flamethrower to her dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale,” a cautionary tale of a harshly patriarchal, racist and totalitarian society. Ultimately, her book withstood the flames because it’s a special edition made of fireproof materials—and sold at auction for $130,000 to benefit Pen America’s efforts to fight censorship in the States. The campaign was led by agency Rethink.
“I never thought I'd be trying to burn one of my own books—and failing,” Atwood said in a statement. “‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ has been banned many times—sometimes by whole countries, such as Portugal and Spain in the days of Salazar and the Francoists, sometimes by school boards, sometimes by libraries. Let's hope we don't reach the stage of wholesale book burnings, as in ‘Fahrenheit 451.’ But if we do, let's hope some books will prove unburnable—that they will travel underground, as prohibited books did in the Soviet Union.”
