Suitsupply’s Raunchy Campaign On ‘The New Normal’ Is Making People Squeamish
Image via Suitsupply
When was the last time you even got a hug from someone outside of your social bubble? With physical contact on a low, audiences are especially uncomfortable with a Suitsupply campaign envisioning post-pandemic life, which it imagines will arrive soon.
In a series of racy photos by the menswear label, a group of nearly naked people are shown passionately making out. In each visual, the only fully-clothed person is the man in the center, dressed to the nines in Suitsupply’s suits.
The shots are accompanied by the caption, “The New Normal is Coming. Get Ready to Get Closer.”
Pre-pandemic, the hot and heavy images would be enough to stop viewers in their tracks. However, given the repeated reminders about social distancing over the past year, the campaign is making people sweat, and not always in a good way.
“Post-pandemic life is on the horizon,” Fokke de Jong, founder and CEO of Suitsupply, described to Insider. “Social distancing for extraordinarily long periods of time has conditioned us to fear proximity of others and that is perfectly justified.”
De Jong explained that the photos were meant to offer “a positive outlook on our future where people can get back to gathering and getting close.”
The idea of all those people crammed into a tiny space, tongues out, spit exchanged, is nonetheless leaving social media users unsettled. Some have expressed concern for the models featured; MarketWatch reporter Elisabeth Bushward tweeted, “I hope they were both tested for coronavirus before that shoot.” One Twitter user succinctly asked, “Is that saliva?”
New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin questioned, “Too soon? Not soon enough? Thoughts?”
Justifying the advertisements’ portrayal, de Jong told Insider, “People are looking to get out and about again… At the beginning of the pandemic, Suitsupply was among the first to implement safe shopping experiences, that’s what people needed, and we met that moment. I believe people want to connect to something more positive now.”
Their Instagram posts are somehow worst pic.twitter.com/l2W2TlZNph
— T (@cocaineshrimp) March 4, 2021
I can't even cope with people shaking hand in scenes that were recorded 20 years before the pandemic...
— Miguel Vara (@themiguelvara) March 4, 2021
watching the suit supply orgy pic.twitter.com/ZflzGaKunG
— Bridget Read (@bridgetgillard) March 4, 2021
I'm just deeply concerned that this was the old normal and nobody told me? That this was how you were supposed to do kissing?
— Taffy Brodesser-Akner (@taffyakner) March 4, 2021
I can't even cope with people shaking hand in scenes that were recorded 20 years before the pandemic...
— Miguel Vara (@themiguelvara) March 4, 2021
Stocks down on that Suitsupply ad
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) March 4, 2021
I’m uncomfortable pic.twitter.com/pgmZS5by6t
— CanLen 🕙 (@CandiceLen) March 4, 2021
[via Insider, images via Suitsupply]
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