Noticed anything different about your Netflix recently? Luxury fashion’s Louis Vuitton and Tiffany, are two of the first brands to sign on to Netflix’s new advertising program.
Whether you’re into “Ozark” “Lupin” or the new Netflix “Manifest” or “Inside Man”, Netflix is serving up some big fashion ads with your entertainment fare.
The Tiffany ads include Beyoncé in a moody black and white video wearing a grand full-skirted dress and later, a shiny asymmetric disco number in a setting reminiscent of Studio 54. Of course, fabulous jewels are center stage.
Another ad features actors Zendaya, who stars in one of the streamer’s biggest recent hits “Euphoria”. She’s featured with Anne Hathaway, forever a fashion favorite since her memorable turn in “The Devil Wears Prada”.
I came across the ads when I decided to renew my Netflix to watch a new series. I passed up the ad-free offer which costs more. Previously, I enjoyed binge-watching “Ozark” (highly recommend), “Grace and Frankie” and “Lupin” and often jabbing around to take in one or two episodes of a range of genres. Then, I unsubscribed.
Watching with commercials isn’t bad. It does take longer and I couldn’t fast forward through the ads.
I renewed so I could watch the new interracial love story between a Black American woman and a White Italian man called “From Scratch”. A friend and a business acquaintance strongly recommended it.
It stars Zoe Saldana (who over the years has slowly come around to publicly identifying with her Blackness. I know it can be hard in Hollywood. But that’s an aside.)
She’s totally Black in this – black sister, black mama, black papa. I could do a whole unpacking of “From Scratch” – and maybe I will.
But for now, the point is it’s solid entertainment and Saldana is radiant in it. It’s based on a true story and a bestselling book by writer Tembi Locke. Her sister Attica Locke, an accomplished producer and showrunner, is executive producer. It’s for anyone and everyone who likes a good romance – keep the Kleenex box nearby.
But you will especially enjoy “From Scratch” if you are a Black woman in America who’s as tired as I am of seeing Black women portrayed in ads and entertainment as the least desirable, most uncoupled beings on the planet. A sizable portion of the Black women I know are married or partnered, and most of them are married to Black men.
Let’s stop with the erasure and discriminatory depictions.
The stylish ads fit well into the “From Scratch” visuals which are pretty and sun-drenched. They appear across other series too which may not be as good a context for high-end fashion.
Not coincidentally, Tiffany is owned by LVMH. The ads are artfully made and certainly seem more at home on Netflix than among broadcast television’s pedestrian fare.
Beyoncé photos by Mason Poole
