Eau de Parfum...Lust

(Sunny Leone, 2016, India)

Firstly I think perfume ads are wildly unnecessary and extremely confusing. They usually contain a half-naked person, no dialogue, and mass displays of luxury beyond belief. The luxury can include cars, jewelry, people (friends and family) and is typically displayed as the outcome of wearing the perfume. Wear the perfume and become really popular, wear the perfume and suddenly get a job promotion, wear the perfume and find your soul mate. All of these things are unconnected and seemingly unattainable but are somehow able to be obtained with the perfume.

The perfume in question is the lust perfume by Sunny Leone. The perfume ad first made headway in India in 2016 and grew in popularity over the year. Sunny Leone is a businesswoman, model, and actress. She was born Karenjit Kaur Vohra and currently holds dual citizenship in both the United States and Canada. She first became popular through her roles in Indian Bollywood actress, but soon moved to do other things such as singing and modeling for the American Entertainment Industry.

Again the name of the perfume is Lust. The name in itself is one of the seven deadly sins and the perfume was designed to attract a certain kind of person, this being one who is greatly attracted to luxury and wealth. Sunny explains in an interview that the scent and ad, in general, were created to mirror what she wants and how she perceives herself. Therefore, her audience is people that want the same things as her: fame and fortune. Her audience would be people that were either from a high class or wanted to pass as someone from a high class.

Sunny Leone is from a high-class economic background who's product mirrors not only the knowledge she has of the world and the place she is from in society. Sunny Leone is an Indian actress and again a businesswoman and is very used to being in the spotlight. The knowledge she has gained from the world and the knowledge she gives to her audience is all based upon her place on the social hierarchy.

 The ad itself is playing to the appeals of the audience. The ad is not too flashy and portrays the perfume at the forefront of the ad and presented in a black bottle with gold lettering, with Sunny Leone posing in the background. The spotlight on Sunny and the perfume in the foreground of the ad is subconsciously convincing the audience to buy her perfume. The audience is looking at the woman in gold and associating that color with luxury and wealth which in turn, connects the perfume to those things. However, the word itself means "a strong desire" therefore the ad is presenting the idea of someone or something desiring the person who wears the perfume while also insinuating that whatever that person desires will be theirs.

The ad is simply trying to convince people to buy the perfume. The ad was presented across many social media platforms during its initial release and used the producer of the product (Sunny Leone) as an essential aspect of the ad. Sunny Leone is an Indian woman that appeals to a much wider audience due to her various professional jobs such as modeling, acting, and singing, so her audience is more likely to be diverse.

Stereotypically speaking Sunny Leone is not what one would call a "serious businesswoman" she started out as a model and then actress so most would assume that she would be followed with a ditsy personality and lack of knowledge regarding other aspects of the world besides the entertainment industry. However, Sunny proves these stereotypes wrong time and time again by being apathetic towards the people that view her as simply one thing.

She explains that the stereotypes are not relevant to her personal life because "first and foremost she is a realist, a businesswoman, and a mother" so she does not let the things that people say about her hinder her ability to succeed. She ultimately made the title of her perfume "lust" as a sort of homage towards her Bollywood acting career and also her husband.

Ultimately, the seven deadly sins are everywhere. From perfume ads to car ads everything seems to be associated with one deadly sin if not more. All we as the consumer can do to combat that is to be aware of what the ad is trying to do and separate the ad from the product...or just get sucked in and enjoy the perfume that can give you all your greatest desires. ;)