Do These Vuitton Ads Stretch Too Far?

If they had used some of their actual atelier workers on site instead of some models to mock them, then it actually would have been a good idea. However under these circumstances it strikes the customer as dishonest.

Also it has to be noted the marketing shift here is really sudden. From sexed-up High fashion catwalk power bitches to wholesome Rembrant-y oldwordliness in one fell swoop is a lot to swallow either way.

This is hardly new, and not limited to this industry. Years back I worked for a linear bearing mfg. and was talking to our sales rep. from Denmark. He told me that in Denmark, as well as most of western Europe, there was huge demand for his products because every factory was trying to automate everything they could. Back here in the states has happened, too. China isn't taking all of our jobs. IT'S THE ROBOTS!!

I'd love to form a more educated opinion on the ad--but I'm not familiar with it. Couldn't we post a link to the image, especially in an article asking us to critically consider an image? Many thanks!

It's a pity. The campaign is nice and eye-catching. Simple and clear. It made me think of artisans, craftmanship, added value, dream...or is it just an illusion?

Is the modern luxury just an excellent marketing thing? Which is the future for the luxury brands: storytelling or honesty?

BTW, I love Uniqlo...

Glenn, in response to your very sensible request for a copy of the image ... I would love to be able to post one but have not found any digital images. If any readers have found an image, please e-mail to me at carol_matlack@businessweek.com and I'll post it. In the meantime, if you can get your hands on a recent issue of the Economist you will almost certainly see one of these ads ... I have also seen it in the Financial Times.

Interesting because on the LV online store (in the UK at least) there is a "craftsmanship" link on the product pages to a video of leather goods being cut, sewn, hammered and polished by hand. Perhaps these are the custom items but since only the regular items are sold online, how misleading is that?

So what you are saying is that the "truth-in-advertising standard" should be tougher for a frivolous luxury bag than for the food we eat?

I do not really think customers really care about the origins of their bags as long as it is made accordingly to ethical standard (and a modern and airy factory sounds more than ethical to me).

Seeing that as an artisan myself, the ad does seem superficial. This seems intrinsic to Louis Vuitton's aesthetic anyway...

In response to my request, a reader kindly forwarded a link to a French-language website that includes images of two of the Vuitton ads. The images are small and the text is in French, but this gives an idea. I will keep looking for other images.
http://www.tendances-de-mode.com/2009/12/10/1579-louis-vuitton-authentique

To the more aware of the 65,000 LVMH employees worldwide, this ad seems somewhat correct since the stage of production shown of the specific products represented are indeed, to this day, still handmade. When shop floor employees are pressed, this image does not necessarily incorrectly promise their clients that every step of the process receives the same halo of artisinal care that only the surest hand can procure, this only says what it says for that aspect of the shoe sole or luggage handle that is being shown. This is a stretch of course, as we have an ad that promises a world of hand craftmanship but when pressed we can only confirm it is vamping up that specific step which is shown.

Had the ad shown the Monogram Speedy bag or the Monogram Neverfull the fleet of employees would be put in an awkward position. Only the most rare and highest priced items as well as quite a few of the obscure show bags / runway items are able to be made by hand and this for a variety of reasons, scale being one to chiefly consider.

When I last visited the Vuitton shoe workshops on the Brenta riviera, the soles were hand edged - true, but with rollers, not inefficient and time consuming mohair brushes, and the lighting was deliberately less Vermeer-esque. Even Violin makers and master Ceramists don't work by this kind of light today.

On internal LVMH newsletters the regular atelier employees from France, Spain and the U.S. are shown in a thoughtfully fair and sensible light, one that I was satisfied with and found pride in. It’s too bad the models in these images are so over romanticized that it only raises more questions as to what the workshops really are like.

I saw the Beeswax ad on the outside back of the Dec. 21 Time Magazine. As a photographer I was immediately captured by it. I would bet this was shot by Annie Leibovitz - it's beautiful and essentially flawless in execution.

I think it is nice we all have time to actually think and comment about whether or not it is realistic, but is that even the point. We buy many things from cars to movies to clothing, especially luxury goods because it helps us escape in some way from our version of reality. We buy into an image and an ad has to have the power to stop us then help maintain that image for the brand while clearly delivering the benefit otherwise it's not a good ad for the brand.

So, if I'm looking for truth in advertising in terms of images - I'll start with the cosmetic companies and poofy lipped photoshopped stick figures selling clothes inside the magazine before I bother with the LV factory.

In the end, the faces we all put on to show the world when we go out are not much less unreal than these idealized images. I guess that's what we want to see.

Do you prefer a brand like LV that is celebrating craftmanship on products, that for those product selected are really craft objects, but also do not hide that they manufacture many other products in their factories in France ( Dussey is one of them), or would you back all those"Luxury"manufacturers that manufacture in China ( most of the so-called Luxury brands are today manufacturing in China,). Did you visit the Rolex factory in Geneva? Nobody did, hopefully for them, because it would definitively kill the dream.Thank you for LV to be honest, but it does not pay a lot: others are very discrete and believe that we do not understand their game.

I am lover of LOUIS VUITTON. I like it ad very much. I also have many blogs about it.

I am lover of LOUIS VUITTON. I like it ad very much. I also have many blogs about it.

I think these ads are rather pathetic. Is LV trying to compete with Hermes? Clearly they are trying to be perceived belonging to a category they do not belong to. I don't have much respect for companies that lie on that sort of scale in their ads.

I choose to see the ad for what it is. It's a reminder of a company that has legacy and history to an extend which is not guite comparable to other brands but a few. I support this company for being trustworthy and admirable for choosing not to move workshops to Asia for cheaper labour. I understand that we are asked to swallow quite a bit....from long-legged Lara Stone in the latest ads for the runway pieces 2010 to this, but to me the difference is, that these ads, which we discuss here, are made to sell the main products, not the seasonal ones.
The main products with the classic patterns do go back in time, so why not celebrate that in a set of ads that are so beautiful to look at and in the same time true to the brand's origin.

Louis Vuitton is celebrating craftsmanship and skill. What's wrong with that? They DO make most pieces by hand, if they didn't I'm sure they wouldn't be so bold as to create an ad campaign surrounding their craftsmanship. The times have changed and so have technology, thus, LV have slightly modified their production in therms of line up. If you compare LV to any other brand out there you can see how close the manufacturing is to their history. If they did make cut the leather by hand etc, they would have pain-in-the-ass consumers moaning about imperfections in their pieces! They can't win, even when they are trying to celebrate the fine age-old skills which they are founded on.