"Kaia at the Wrong Party"

11 November 2025

7 mins 46s

Ad or short film? Both? Surely not.

What are we to make of this extraordinary piece of content for Mango? More pertinently, do we judge it as a short film or as a piece of advertising? The yardsticks used to measure the two are very different, and as much as it succeeds as one, it looks to us as though it has badly failed as the other. What to do? What to do? Let's judge it as both... one after the other.

As a short film, it is beautiful, witty, measured and full of intrigue. It stars Kaia Gerber who has a very charismatic presence, and she performs her role as a confused party-goer with aplomb. It is both fun and satisfying to watch. Bingo! Have five stars.

Okay, so now, as an ad. Where does this have a life as a piece of advertising? It's too long for traditional media but it has all the right qualities to succeed online, including Kaia Gerber who has exactly the right profile to appeal to the target demographic. So, where is it?

Bits and bobs of the film have been added to Mango's TikTok videos and many of these have had a lot of views, but, as far as we can see, Mango has not uploaded the film in its entirety to this platform. This may be because, understandably, no one involved in the making of it wants to allow it to be seen in 9:16 when it looks so beautiful in 16:9.

So, YouTube then? It's on YouTube where it has, at the time of writing (two weeks after it was added to the platform), managed 5,400 views and drawn nine comments, one of which is "I don't get it".

On Instagram then? Images from the campaign have garnered interest, though nothing like the TikTok numbers, but, again, the film cannot be seen in its entirety there, and it seems an unlikely platform for it.

This is one of those occasions when we would welcome correction because we truly hope there is a platform where this film can be proudly shown, and if it exists, please tell us... but, its visibility doesn't appear to be great, and it's naive to pretend that isn't a problem.

UK

Fashion Labels