A groom anxiously on the altar, the bride getting ready. Then the entrance into the Church crowded with friends and relatives, outside the flood, when just before the promises another woman bursts into the church, her makeup undone by the storm or, it is not known, by her own tears. The ‘other’ calls the bride with a wave of the hand and she immediately turns around, grabs that hand and together they run away towards freedom, This in the 30 minutes of the Pupa commercial, a well-known Italian cosmetics company, for Sanremo Festival 2024, and which is generating a big controversy right on the eve of its broadcasting, where by many considered inappropriate for a nationally popular vision and moreover in the Rai Tv maximum audience program, due to the ‘unconventional’ family model it proposes. Indeed, it even opposes that of the traditional family, some say.

EX-SENATOR PILLON: UNWORTHY COMMERCIAL, RAI SHOULD CANCEL IT FROM THE FESTIVAL. EDUCATES TO HOMOSEXUALITY

And while the debate on the web increases, without extremism indeed, the lid is blown off by the former senator Pillon who today expressed himself by branding the commercial as “LGBTQ propaganda that spoils us with this nonsense. From Cinderella’s fairy to soaps, from social media to Hollywood to Trans fairy tales at school, there is no longer a space spared from more or less cheerful trifles, let alone Sanremo”. “Propaganda – continues Pillon – certainly does not aim to change the habits of us adults, if anything to normalize homosexuality for the younger generations, who have grown up without sexual identity, without orientation and unable to start a family. The numbers don’t lie, and the unstoppable progression of gender dysphoria among children, who are then treated with puberty blockers or a surgeon’s knife, is there to prove it.” According to the Northern League member “it is a commercial that should be screened in a protected slot and outside the programming of a singing festival, but the hammering would come from other sources. So you know what I’m telling you? Let’s put a beautiful inscription

CIVIL SOCIETY, ARCIGAY: PILLON LIVES IN THE MIDDLE AGES. RAINBOW FAMILIES: UNFOUNDED AND STERILE CONTROVERSY

“If Pillon cries scandal in front of a commercial that tells the escape of two women who choose to love each other by challenging social conventions and the fate of an imposed or unwanted heterosexual marriage, it is because he believes he still lives in the Middle Ages, in a world that no longer exists – Natascia Maesi, national president of arcigay  - Whether they like it or not, lesbians exist and start families. And what seriously harms the health of young people is not the normalization of homosexuality that has already been cleared by them, but the lack of affectivity and consent education programs in schools. It is precisely young people who ask us to be informed, aware and therefore protected from the violence that arises from prejudice. It is to them that we must give serious and credible answers, instead of repeating the usual witch hunt”.

“The controversy that defines Pupa’s commercial for Sanremo as shocking is unfounded, sterile and useless. The commercial has nothing shocking, it is a faithful reference to the film “The Graduate“, the male figure is only replaced with a female one – so Alessia Crocini president of the Arcobaleno family association -

It is ridiculous that in Italy and Europe in 2024 we can still think that a commercial can change or condition the sexual orientation or gender identity of a boy or girl. It is worth mentioning that almost all Western European countries have recognized marriage as egalitarian, Greece will soon approve it as well. Only the Eastern countries and Italy have not done so.

ADVERTISERS: SURREAL CONTROVERSY, POLITICIANS SHOULD BE POLITICIANS, AND NOT CREATIVES

“I don’t understand the reason that it can stimulate a controversy, much less an incitement to homosexuality – comments the president of IAA International Advertising Association – I have been involved in communication for 25 years and I can say with certainty that this is a beautiful, delicate commercial that communicates a positive message of freedom. Moreover, I don’t even see a kiss or an attitude that could disturb particular sensitivities.”

“It seems that our politicians, not all of them, for heaven’s sake let’s not generalize – intervenes Davide Ciliberti,  communication expert – have found new life in advertising through advertising itself. Which evidently works given the activism of some in grabbing the media spotlight on this side as well. It is true that in Italy we are all ‘coaches of the national team’ but I believe – continues the advertising expert – that it would be better if politicians were politicians by focusing if anything on the real problems of the people, leaving advertisers to be advertisers”.

“Advertising is a mirror of a changing society and should not be interpreted in an ideological way, it is only positive that even creatives have begun to tell a reality that is no longer glossy or stereotyped but that intercepts reality and change in all its facets,” concludes Andrea Crocioni, director of TouchPoint, a reference magazine in the world of advertising.

PUPA AND THE ‘CONTROVERSY’ COMMERCIAL, THE COMPANY: IN TRUTH IT IS A HYMN TO FREEDOM AND FEMALE SOLIDARITY

Milan, 5 February 2023 - “We are following with sincere interest and also curiosity the debate that has arisen around our commercial scheduled for the Sanremo Festival, to which we have been present as advertisers for several years” so the Pupa company signatory of the ‘controversy’ commercial.

“This year – explain the company - we asked our advertisers, the GB22 agency and creative director Vicky Gitto, to develop a film that, in 30 seconds, celebrates true emotions with a representation of beauty different from the cover perfection, to which we are accustomed”.

And so, inspired by and revisiting in a contemporary key the famous scene of the famous film ‘The Graduate’ (1967) – in which Dustin Hoffman bursts into the Church screaming to prevent Elaine’s wedding – the Pupa commercial opens with an anxious groom on the altar. Then the bride enters a church packed with friends and relatives, outside the flood, when just before the promises another woman bursts into the church, her makeup undone by the storm or, it is not known, by her own tears. The ‘other‘ calls the bride with a wave of her hand and she immediately turns around, grabs that hand and together they run away to freedom.

This means that a smudge in make-up can be the mirror of an emotion and inner beauty far more intense than the aesthetic perfection that lately seems to be almost mandatory.

“But above all it is a hymn to freedom and solidarity between women. The ending of the commercial is open – they explain again from the company - it does not end. And therefore it does not deal with the past that may have led to that gesture and even less does it want to draw an ending from it. On the contrary, it leaves it to the viewer, freely, without constraints or directions, to decide the ending.”

Agency: GB22 (Italy)
Press Office: Purple & Noise PR (Italy)