If you’re paying for an advertisement, you want people to notice it.
Yves Saint Laurent certainly is getting its money’s worth from a print ad that is in wide circulation.
It features a stunning young woman, oozing sex appeal, who is spraying perfume onto her neck. The implication: Buy this stuff and you will be stunning, too.
The name of the perfume: Black Opium.
Really? In 2016, when heroin deaths have become an epidemic, YSL is marketing a perfume with the same name as the substance used in the creation of heroin?
Akron resident Cari Miller was appalled and angry when she saw the ad among inserts inside a package she ordered online.
“As a mother with three tween/teens, heroin terrifies me,” she says. “So I was horrified when I got the little insert for Black Opium.”
The move is so tone-deaf for the times that Miller says, “I just can’t figure out if these people marketing the perfume are that clueless or that evil.”
They’re that evil. Get a load of the blurb that accompanies some of the marketing:
“Black Opium is the new highly addictive feminine fragrance from Yves Saint Laurent. Fascinating and seductively intoxicating, the opening notes of adrenaline-rich coffee and the sweet sensuality of vanilla recline into the softness of white flowers for a modern, young and vibrant interpretation of addiction. Get your dose.”
The words “highly addictive” and “get your dose” make it obvious YSL knows exactly what it’s doing.
According to the websites of various retailers, Black Opium is available at Dillard’s, J.C. Penney, Macy’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom and Wal-Mart, among others.
Here’s how concerned some of these companies are about the issue: When I emailed the media relations people at five of them, only one responded.
• Dillard’s: no response.
• Saks Fifth Avenue: no response.
• J.C. Penney: no response.
• Yves Saint Laurent: no response.
The only retailer that seemed to care was Macy’s.
Andrea Schwartz, a regional vice president based in Chicago, said the stores are stocking it because of customer demand. Schwartz said there were no plans to yank it “at this time.”
But, she added, “we will ... share the comments you forwarded with our buying and marketing teams, as well as with our vendor partner. It is important for them to know how costumers feel about the products and advertising our vendors are producing.”
Black Opium is certainly not obscure in the world of cosmetics. Last year, the perfume made Cosmopolitan magazine’s list of the “20 Sexiest Scents of All-Time.”
Cosmo broke down the list into subcategories, including “Statement-Making Sexy,” “Flirtatiously Sexy” and “Subtly Sexy.”
The Black Opium review appeared under the subhead “Mysteriously Sexy:”
“2015: YSL ‘Black Opium,’ $67, yslbeautyus.com. The spring’s redux of 1977’s legendary Opium stays true to its Oriental roots, but adds a modern flair of pink pepper and coffee.”
Well, isn’t that special.
Says Miller, “Can you imagine a mother who lost her child to heroin getting this in the mail?”
It would be a kick in the teeth.
It’s an insult to a lot of other folks, too.
Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com. He also is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bob.dyer.31