Boots | Soltan – Skin Scope (2004, UK) [4K Upscale]
Why, hello. It's good to be back after yet another long hiatus - how has everyone been?
This time, I'm back with an advert for sun lotion by Boots, which for those who don't know is a health and beauty franchise here in the UK.
You're probably wondering why I'm back with an upscale of an ad for sun lotion - well, I have been trawling through archives quite a lot recently (I've decided to knuckle down during my free time when I'm not busy trying to become a lawyer and work on my next main project, wink wink), and I randomly thought of this rather obscure ad from my childhood.
I remember being quite freaked out by this as a kid (of which seemed to be an all too familiar occurrence if you haven't been able to tell by now - poor little me was apparently unnerved all the time back then). I think it was a mix of the grungy intimidating music, the rather weird shots of the half-naked models just standing there looking gormless, the creepy whispering and then the unnerving before and after shots of the heavily-freckled and sun damaged skin of the models. Something about it just didn't sit right with me - and although it's an advert for sun cream which is obviously super important, surely they didn't have to be that unnecessarily creepy to get their message across!
Maybe it's just me who still finds this ad gratuitously creepy to this day... there's just something really unnerving about the whole thing which makes the 9-year-old in me want to shut my eyes and stick my fingers in my ears. Yet I'm weirdly fascinated by how much it creeps me out.
Can you not tell that I'm a weirdo by now?
Upscaled into 4K using Topaz AI.
Original: https://vimeo.com/674907679
Oh, and always wear sunscreen, folks.