The instant I watched that Melania Trump video about encouraging healthy, drug-free lives and honoring National Substance Use Prevention Month, I was asking myself “what’s with the curiously provocative camera angle?” and more to the point “where have I seen this before?”
Usually PSA spots are delivered full face and straight to the camera, so the sultry side-angle thing felt like a distraction.
Then it hit me — that famous 1967 Noxzema shaving cream ad with Swedish model Gunilla Knutson (“Take it off, take it all off”).
On one hand Melania’s ad is a straightforward pitch about social responsibility and saving kids from drug-dependent lives, but on another it’s about her glistening blonde highlights, prominent cheekbones and feigned Mata Hari allure. Why work against the sober messaging with a fetching “look at me” attitude?