Canal+ Makes 'Versailles'-Themed Toys to Distract Kids During Its Raunchy Louis XIV Drama

Royal Bodice-Ripper Is Back for Season 2

Published On
Apr 18, 2017

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French TV drama "Versailles" is back for a second season, and broadcaster Canal+ is capitalizing on its raunchy reputation in a tongue-in-cheek promotional campaign.

The series, created in France but filmed in English, and airing on BBC2 in the U.K. and on Ovation in the U.S, centers around Louis XIV and is well-known for its multiple sex scenes. For the recent launch of season 2 in France, Canal+ and its advertising agency, BETC Paris, created "Versailles for Kids," a collection of toys and a mobile app meant to keep children from viewing explicit content. Each game is conceived to be played in 52 minutes, the run time of an episode of the show.

Each week, when a new episode of the series was released, a new "Versailles for Kids" toy was made available to be won; they included a royal gardening kit, a magic box, a king's costume and a castle construction set. An Android and iOs mobile "Versailles for Kids: the Game" mobile app was released on the first day of the series, March 21.

While we're hoping no actual kids were playing with this in the same room as their parents watching "Versailles," the campaign is certainly a different way to promote the drama (and reminds us of the kinds of campaign Netflix has recently designed around its shows). BETC says that so far, it's garnered six million media impressions in France and 4,000 toys have been given away.