Pixiq

Forget the Nikon ads with that baby faced Ashton Kutcher or those dreamy ads for the Panasonic GX, Fujifilm has trumped them all with what is perhaps the weirdest, if not one of the most beautiful TV spots ever made for a digital camera or for that matter for any product. In 30 seconds this ad will either elate you or make your blood run cold. It gives new meaning to advertising "mad men." 

As PIXIQ viewers know I’ve written several posts about my expectations for the new Fujiflm Finepix X10 camera. Fujifilm promised to send me one to review but I haven't got it yet, so I pass the time while waiting for the real thing, wandering the web trying to glean out every last drop of information I can about the X10's I see online.

That is how  quite by accident I discoveredwhat is perhaps the weirdest, most beautiful TV ad I have ever seen. It was made for the Japanese home market and, especially if you are like me a fan of Japanese horror films (J-Horror), you will really appreciate the strange beauty of this TV spot.

The ad is cut in two different versions--one is 30 seconds long and the other 60 seconds long. I prefer the 30 second cut because its rapid juxtaposition of images leaves the viewer wondering about how the school girl, the tattoos and blood red flowers all connect. I urge you to watch the 30 second cut first. The longer ad is a little softer although still very, very disturbing. Both ads remind me a lot of Salvatore Dali and Luis Bunel's "un Chien andalou."

To try to explain the meaning pf this TV spot one commenter left this on YouTube,” The purpose of this ad is to illustrate the contrast between surface and inner beauty, and through that bring about the point that photography is not simply a pursuit of what is beautiful on the outside. Once the photographer abandons such a mentality, he will rediscover a whole new beauty that lies beneath. 

It could be said that this ad also seems to say that beneath the surface of everything there are things both terrifying and evil. 

30 second version  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX2qY0DGsL8

60 second version  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTpcTQQH8T8&feature=related