New Audrey Hepburn GAP commercial!

[DarkNeko]

Have you all seen it? I LOVE it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj923YC3IN0

 

[nakedboy]

You're so correct. You should love it. There's nothing like our classic movie heroes. The likes of which we'll never see again. Proof: The reason why advertising agencies have been using the classic pop music and classic movie actors. It works and there's no one, currently, with the same timeless talents.

 

[looseliam]

Audrey Hepburn, what a dame!

Seems like a neat commercial. I still won't shop at the Gap, though.

 

[Just_Believe18]

I thought that was her!

 

[Christopherb36]

amazing commercial! Gotta love the Gap!

 

[Joshua_me]

I like it from a 'it's cool' standpoint and all, but I just don't know how I feel
about manipulating a dead stars' image (she IS dead, isn't she ?) to do something they never agreed to... Just because the company bought the
rights.

It's fairly common now, but I remember the first time it happened. CGI was just getting started, and they showed Fred Ataire dancing with a Dirt Devil
broom, or something.

The Astaire family had a fit, but there was nothing they could do about it.

Think about it, if you had a relative who had passed on who was a big star,
would you want to turn on the TV and see them tap dancing on a Big Mac or something ?

Just a thought.

 

[TylerKS]

I like it from a 'it's cool' standpoint and all, but I just don't know how I feel
about manipulating a dead stars' image (she IS dead, isn't she ?) to do something they never agreed to... Just because the company bought the
rights.

It's fairly common now, but I remember the first time it happened. CGI was just getting started, and they showed Fred Ataire dancing with a Dirt Devil
broom, or something.

The Astaire family had a fit, but there was nothing they could do about it.

Think about it, if you had a relative who had passed on who was a big star,
would you want to turn on the TV and see them tap dancing on a Big Mac or something ?

Just a thought.

From the Gap:
"In celebration of the launch of the "Keep It Simple" ad campaign, Gap is making a generous contribution to the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund.
The Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund is a non-profit organization created to continue Ms. Hepburn's international appeals on behalf of children around the world."

 

[justsimon]

From the Gap:
"In celebration of the launch of the "Keep It Simple" ad campaign, Gap is making a generous contribution to the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund.
The Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund is a non-profit organization created to continue Ms. Hepburn's international appeals on behalf of children around the world."

Well that clears up my conflict with it. Anything that lets me see Audrey on a regular basis is a good thing. I was actually about to start a thread on this...

 

[GL]

Whodathunkit? Audrey Hepburn and AC/DC? It's a riot, I love it.

 

[looseliam]

Why won't you shop us? I definitely think you need to take a look at our new "clean" line for fall. It is AWESOME!

I'm a bit of a label whore. I've really nothing against Gap, it's just not for me.

 

[Just_Believe18]

I think she was the most prettiest actress the world has ever seen. *blush*

 

[The_Reaper]

I personally don't like the commerical.

I nearly vomitted a fit of rage when I first saw it, but the presence of my parents prevented me from doing so of course.

It just seems wrong to take scenes from an old movie, splice them up with some fancy music and editting and use them to sell jeans...

What's next? Gene Kelly selling umbrellas?!?

 

[Croynan]

I personally don't like the commerical.

I nearly vomitted a fit of rage when I first saw it, but the presence of my parents prevented me from doing so of course.

It just seems wrong to take scenes from an old movie, splice them up with some fancy music and editting and use them to sell jeans...

What's next? Gene Kelly selling umbrellas?!?

I am in total agreement with you on this one.

When I saw it the first time, I could not believe what I was seeing - I found it rude, offensive, in lousy taste and disrespectful to a woman of great stature and grace.

I sometimes wonder if we have any sense of descency in this country at all and this commercial just further re-enforces that opinion.eM.

I would like to know if her estate and or her son have given permission for the use of the material - off hand I would find that hard to believe, but if they have and they feel the donations compensate for the disrespect of the commercial, then I defer to thei judgment.

Audrey Hepburn was in a class by herself. The brilliant work she did near the end of her life for the United Nations was truly remarkable. Probably one of the most gifted actors of her time and a brillian humanitarian.

Work for UNICEF

Soon after Hepburn's final film role, she was appointed a special ambassador to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Grateful for her own good fortune after being a victim of the Nazi occupation as a child, she dedicated the remainder of her life to helping impoverished children in the world's poorest nations. Hepburn's travels were made easier by her wide knowledge of languages; she spoke French, Italian, English, Dutch/Flemish, and Spanish. She learned Italian while living in Rome. She learned Spanish on her own, and there is UNICEF footage of her in Mexico speaking fluent Spanish to locals.

Though she had done work for UNICEF in the 50's, this was a much higher dedication. Those close to her say that the thoughts of dying, helpless children consumed her for the rest of her life. Her first Field Mission was to Ethiopia in 1988. She visited an orphanage in Mecalee with 500 starving children and had UNICEF send food. Of the trip, she said, "I have a broken heart. I feel desperate. I can't stand the idea that two million people are in imminent danger of starving to death, many of them children, [and] not because there isn't tons of food sitting in the northern port of Shoa. It can't be distributed. Last spring, Red Cross and UNICEF workers were ordered out of the northern provinces because of two simultaneous civil wars. I went into rebel country and saw mothers and their children who had walked for ten days, even three weeks, looking for food, settling onto the desert floor into makeshift camps where they may die. Horrible. That image is too much for me. The "Third World" is a term I don't like very much, because we're all one world. I want people to know that the largest part of humanity is suffering." [24]

In August of 1988, Hepburn went to Turkey on an immunization campaign. She called Turkey "The most lovely example" of UNICEF's capabilities. "The army gave us their trucks, the fishmongers gave their wagons for the vaccines, and once the date was set, it took ten days to vaccinate the whole country. Not bad." In October, Hepburn went to South America. In Venezuela and Ecuador, Hepburn told Congress, "I saw tiny mountain communities, slums, and shantytowns receive water systems for the first time by some miracle -- and the miracle is UNICEF. I watched boys build their own schoolhouse with bricks and cement provided by UNICEF." [25]

Hepburn toured Central America in February, 1989, and met with chiefs in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. In April, Hepburn visited Sudan with Robert Wolders as part of a mission called "Operation Lifeline." Due to civil war, food from aid agencies had been cut off. The mission was to ferry food to southern Sudan. Hepburn said, "I saw but one glaring truth: These are not natural disasters but man-made tragedies for which there is only one man-made solution -- peace." [26] In October, Hepburn and Wolders went to Bangladesh. John Isaac, a UN photographer, said, "Often the kids would have flies all over them, but she would just go hug them. I had never seen that. Other people had a certain amount of hesitation, but she would just grab them. Children would just come up to hold her hand, touch her -- she was like the Pied Piper." [27]

In October of 1990, Hepburn went to Vietnam in an effort to collaborate with the government for national UNICEF-supported immunization and clean water programs. [28]

In September of 1992, 4 months before her passing, Hepburn went to Somalia. Hepburn called it "apocoplyptic" and said, "I walked into a nightmare. I have seen famine in Ethiopia and Bangladesh, but I have seen nothing like this -- so much worse than I could possibly have imagined. I wasn't prepared for this." "The earth is red -- an extraordinary sight -- that deep terra-cotta red. And you see the villages, displacement camps and compounds, and the earth is all rippled around them like an ocean bed. And those were the graves. There are graves everywhere. Along the road, around the paths that you take, along the riverbeds, near every camp -- there are graves everywhere." [29]

Though forever scarred by what she had seen, Hepburn still had hope. She said, "Taking care of children has nothing to do with politics. I think perhaps with time, instead of there being a politicization of humanitarian aid, there will be a humanization of politics." "Anyone who doesn't believe in miracles is not a realist. I have seen the miracle of water which UNICEF has helped to make a reality. Where for centuries young girls and women had to walk for miles to get water, now they have clean drinking water near their homes. Water is life, and clean water now means health for the children of this village." "People in these places don't know Audrey Hepburn, but they recognize the name UNICEF. When they see UNICEF their faces light up, because they know that something is happening. In the Sudan, for example, they call a water pump UNICEF." [30]

In 1992, President George Bush presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work with UNICEF, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded her The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her contribution to humanity. This was awarded posthumously, and her son accepted the award on her behalf.

In 2006, the Sustainable Style Foundation inaugurated the Style & Substance Award in Honor of Audrey Hepburn to recognize high profile individuals that work to improve the quality of life for children around the world. The first award was given to Ms. Hepburn posthumously and received by the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund.

 

[Sausy]

I agree,it is unseemly and crass to put in the images of respected deceased legends,true stars,to hawk a product.It's a little ghoulish,and though it may have the approval of her family,of those running the interests of her estate,it is totally without class or dignity,two qualities Audrey Hepburn certainly possessed in abundance.Is anything sacred anymore?Guess not,it seems.

 

[NedNickerson]

I personally don't like the commerical.

I nearly vomitted a fit of rage when I first saw it, but the presence of my parents prevented me from doing so of course.

It just seems wrong to take scenes from an old movie, splice them up with some fancy music and editting and use them to sell jeans...

What's next? Gene Kelly selling umbrellas?!?

I agree...

If she were still alive, she never would have done an advertisement for The Gap... never... Somehow, it reflects badly on Hollywood, that there's no one classy enough who's ALIVE who could be a spokesperson for the "little black slacks."

 

[justsimon]

I think she was the most prettiest actress the world has ever seen. *blush*

I agree....

 

[sonny10305]

I never knew much about Audrey Hepburn, but after seeing the commercial I rented the movie it's from,"Funny Face" .
All I can say now is, Wow, what an amasing woman!
They sure don't make em like that anymore

 

[tbonez]

... after seeing the commercial I rented the movie it's from,"Funny Face" .

The use of dead stars to peddle jeans does bother me more than a bit. That said, I'm always looking for the silver lining.

Thanks Sonny, you just illustrated it.

Of the re-animated dead people ads, the GAP one is the most tasteful I've seen. "She" doesn't actually say anything about the product, they are just capitalizing on her radiance. The people who remember that movie aren't likely wearing 'little black' anything from the GAP IMO.

I don't shop there and an "endorsement" from a dead star who didn't shop there either isn't going to get me into one of their stores.

 

[sonny10305]

I returned Funny Face" and asked the dude behind the counter what else he had with Audrey in it, I took home two more movies, I never knew what I had missed not knowing about this classy lady. I'm surprised she isn't more of a gay icon, or is she?

 

[RCrowe]

Croynan - your post well well thought out and expressed my feelings about Audrey Hepburn. Using a dead celebrity to hawk a product she probably would never endorse is very crass, especially for someone who was the epitome of class.

Sonny10305 - glad you have been finding her movies enjoyable. She was a great actress. I had the biggest crush on her when I was a teenager!