There's nothing like a good advert, and that was nothing like...

April 27th – Gonna try the impossible today; (‘Like write something short, Peter?’) Ha, you wish! OK, here goes…and any ladies that are reading this, don’t roll your eyes in derision as you read what follows, it’s what us chaps have to put up with…what us chaps have to suffer everyday, y’know…constant… unremitting… If you are of a nervous disposition or take offence easily then stop reading now…OK? It gets gritty.

I think, if asked, most men would say their favourite video is probably the one made by Danish company, Fleggard… yup, I haven’t got a clue what they sell either but that isn't why the ad. is tops (or topless even). It contains humour alongside high production values and if you have to ask why they need to take their tops off then you've missed the point. Look, tell you what, for those interested, here’s the YouTube site address; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD2wB5Ng-4s copy and paste or, if you can’t track it by that then just type in Danish Sex Bombs into the address bar.

But please, a) don’t watch it if you’re easily offended and b) remember, it’s an ad. not a political manifesto or a personal statement. Do you wanna watch it now and come back…? OK, I’ll hold…

Hi! Right. Now, after that treat of advertising genius, my guess is that most men’s second favourite is the Robert Palmer video of Addicted to Love which hit the number one spot on this day in 1986. Predictable choice? Well, yes, but I wanted to take few lines to try and break it down and discover just why it works and what we’re being sold…what us chaps

have to suffer everyday, y’know…constant…unremitting… Look, tell you what, for those interested, here’s the YouTube site address; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcATvu5f9vE copy and paste or, if you can’t track it by that then just type in Addicted to Love into the address bar.

Do you wanna watch it now and come back…? OK, I’ll hold…

Hi! Good to have you back. Right. Addicted to Love; discuss:

The Ladies: Dressed in blouses of a black, chiffon-type material that throughout the video gives half-glimpses of nothing else underneath. Tights are black, sheer, hinting, in the case of three of the ladies, at the possibility of grip-tops just hidden by skirts that are short, tight and all on the verge of riding up higher, their cut emphasising le derrière’s shape and firmness. Two of the skirts are knee-length…which adds extra emphasis on the three that aren't.

Viewer’s Questions:

‘Are the one’s who are dressed alike two sets of twins?’

‘Are they displayed as such, these two sets of similar women, to equate with every man’s dream and draw the watcher/voyeur (mainly male) into the net?’

Right-onward:

The ladies’ hair is tight, pulled back to allow illumination of their open faces, beautifully made up to accentuate the arousal zones – lips, eyes, cheeks, necks. The eyes have dusky hues over and alongside them to pick out both the whites and the irises and these irises are also accentuated to seem large, piercing, inviting. One lady has ice-blue, particularly penetrating eyes, cat-like in their representation in the video; a feline heart and everything else that look implies; inconstancy, coldness, agility, seeking fuss, purring to the caress. The eyebrows are heavily tinted to allow even the slightest arching to be picked up by the camera (something they do very well at various points in the video hinting at…what? Ennui? Expectation?) Their stare is sometime raking the outer watchers, sometime peripheral to camera, sometime straight at camera in the former two allowing the watcher to implant their own take on just what the subject is thinking; in the latter one the stare is penetrating, a challenge or threat and leaves the watcher in no doubt as to what the possibilities are. The lips are bright red, glossy, moist and ready for action.

Throughout most of the video their lips remain closed but twice in the video two of the ladies part them, one to reveal tongue and teeth, and this makes her seem more startling and arresting and more available. In ancient times the vagina was often drawn as a ring with teeth (vagina dentate) as the church tried to stamp out fornication and lust (two mortal sins); is this a hint of subversion? Invitation? Threat? Dare? For the most part their faces remain expressionless and this makes even the slightest eye movement more potent. Long, white necks disappear into the blouse tops, hinting at love-biting and then further. On to blood-sucking? Are we are invited to become Dracula in the safety of our own home…? Their movement is suggestive; hips grinding, swinging and gyrating, mostly in step and in time and this, with the greater stillness of the upper body, draws the eye to the length and shape of each lady’s leg; accentuated by the short skirts. Finger nails are red to match the lips and manicured to within an inch of their collective lives suggesting deft manipulation of instruments, or anything else they come into contact with. The belts are studded, hinting at a dominatrix approach to physical friendship and are fixed tight, pinching in their waists, accentuating their hips and body-line like 18th century ladies of a certain sort. The white guitar strap on the one lady to Mr. Palmer’s left, draped across her right side is, in a real playing situation, awkwardly positioned, but she, like all the other participants, isn't playing, she’s miming; probably can’t play a note. That’s not the point, what is the point is that, in its position and as she gyrates, so the strap moves her left breast across and back, across and back, drawing the eye to the promised, half-glimpse of a naked body beneath.

The drummer has her kit in such a position that it would be impossible to play. What it does do, though, is allow her to display her legs to good advantage, and in order to compensate for her being in the background she is the only lady wearing a scoop-necked top that shows a greater amount of white flesh, her target area, and hints at a lack of bra, something affirmed by the close-ups of the ladies and the movement of their breasts under their blouses. Slow camera work drags down their bodies in a move akin to undressing them, to give glimpses of their bodies being affected by their movement to the music, of a union without consequences, to the very pulse of the music and what it means to be Addicted to Love.

Mr. Palmer wears a white shirt and black pants. Is he is the master, the pimp, the controller of their and our desire or is he under their collective command? Certainly his handling of the microphone is firm, controlled suggesting he knows what to do with stiff and hard objects. 

And there you have it.
Or you could just say that I've just written a load of old bollocks and it’s just a freakin’ good song with some real sexy ladies on view…