"Grace Jones"

6 November 2021

60s

The Grace of God

Many, many years ago when DAVID was living in the Antipodes, he had a humorous piece published in The Age – Australia's equivalent of The Guardian. It was a pleasing moment, not least because the column was formatted in a fashion which gave great prominence to his name. It represented a significant breakthrough. But there was a very odd dimension to this triumph... the weary sub-editor tasked with pulling the piece into shape clearly had their eyes only on the word count. How else can you explain their decision to retain an orphaned punchline, and a callback to something which had been removed?

This episode in the young life as a jobbing writer sprang to mind when watching this 60" version of an ad we have already featured as a 30". The shortened version doesn't work (other than as an aide memoir to this longer version, and it's foolish to assume that the audience will have seen the 60" before they come across it).

In this situation, there are two options: either the 30" version must be able to stand on its own two feet, or it must never be seen at all.

While DAVID doesn't always feel the longest version is the best version... in this case it palpably is. On this broader canvas, Grace Jones becomes a huge asset and the whole raison d'être for persuading her to participate comes to life.

It's understandable that people who devote so much of themselves to endless, soul-destroying meetings about every tiny detail of a commercial have a tendency to forget that – at best – the target audience is only half-paying attention when they watch the finished work, but that's the truth… and it's both naïve and arrogant to expect the general public to decode a piece of work which has been rendered cryptic by a clumsy abbreviation.

So, if a shortened version sits uneasily alongside the commercial from which it has been culled, we urge brands to show the film they paid for.

UK

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