Cassel's Luxury

Vincent Cassel, seemingly a man of character, blessed with a face that can never be categorized in simple terms, has had a fruitful career. Last appreciated in Black Swan, he has the talent to be both disgustingly creepy and sensitively charming. His latest work in the advertisement biz now proves that he really got that duality down.

"Luxury is a right" the Lancia Ypsilon 5x1,5m advert will have you believe. People all over the world are being bombarded with this message, so I suppose I wasn't the only one looking at an almost grim looking Cassel and wondering, "Are you kidding me?"

After a Chandlerian phase of wh-why-whying, I tried to decipher the subtext of the advert. Are you telling me luxury should be a basic human right while there are still people who can't afford food or clean water? Who could possibly look at that sentence and be, "Well, finally, someone's on the same page as me!", except for some jackass escapist who models his/her life after hotel chain heiresses? The advert is almost punk in its fuck-you-I'm-admitting-I'm-a-superficial-ass-and-admit-it-so-are-you kind of way.

Turns out, it's more of a let-them-eat-cake kinda thing. The televised advert is the key to understanding the message: Cassel rants about neverending greed, about measuring success only by the worth and mass of one's possessions, trying to define the meaning of luxury and coming to the conclusion that the greatest luxury are the simple things. Like an affordable car, apparently.

So, obviously the dude is all in on anti-capitalist rethoric, telling the world that even those who have nothing - or rather at 12'500 Euro - can and should be able to afford the luxury of a five door car.

Honestly, though, I don't reaaally buy it. I'm all for spending my last money on overprices coffee or a really nice pair of shoes, but the message that is at the heart of this campaign - about luxury being a right, not a priviledge and whatnot - just don't sound right. I wonder to whom it does...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYAY7Fmgahs