Sinatra Revlon Ad
I tore this Revlon ad out of a magazine in 1989 as I found it disturbing and intriguing all at once. I had been a Frank Sinatra fan for a few years, and already thought of him as being morally complex (known for being very generous and aggressively mean at different times), so the image struck me as being strangely on-point.
After posting this same image on Instagram my friend and colleague Darren Moran wrote me a note explaining much of its background.
Seeing the Revlon ad Chris Buck tore out and saved all those years ago brought back memories. Back in the late 80’s, long before I was an advertising Creative Director, I interned in Revlon’s marketing department on Central Park South. I was there when this ad was created. It was far from the only execution in what would become the famous “Unforgettable Women” campaign, but it was far and away the strangest one.
The campaign was shot by Richard Avedon, who had a history of bringing sophistication and glamor to the Revlon brand going back to the 1950s. And with the cosmetic giant’s products getting pushed out of high-end department store counters and into poorly-lit drug store aisles, it was crucial Avedon work his magic once again if Revlon were to return to its glory as a premium brand.
Most of the ads landed, albeit in that 1980s way. In the shots, Avedon drew from his early fashion work in capturing the top supermodels of the day (Iman, Cindy, Christy, et al) as ravishing and flawless sexual mannequins. But this diptych, featuring an aging, puffy, yet still dapper Frank Sinatra and his lovely wife, Barbara, was the odd man out. In the left-hand shot, a tuxedoed Sinatra holds up the pearl necklace draped around Barbara’s neck. I wouldn’t necessarily call it choking. But I wouldn’t not call it choking either. Barbara is leaning away. The smiles are all a bit forced. And in the right hand shot, Frank’s big paw is holding Barbara’s delicate face as he firmly kisses her cheekbone.
If the whole thing were a little more over the top you’d say the ad was an intentional goof on Borscht-Belt-era marriage clichés. But that wouldn’t be a photo Dick Avedon would make. Because so much of the information in these shots is subtle to the point of being subtext, it’s as if the photographer accidentally caught a truer-than-intended glimpse into Sinatra’s relationship with his wife, one shaped by the icon’s complex and flawed personality. But purposeful or not, to me this was the least contrived, most authentic of all the ads in the campaign.