Vaseline Sea is a celebration of the human skin, using choreographed naked human bodies in a television commercial shown around the world. The Sea of Skin spot begins with landscapes alongside close-ups of human skin. We’re finally introduced to the stars – a team of men and women without clothes, standing in a forest. As the voiceover extols the virtues of human skin, the actors huddle together on boats, bob up and down in a sea, raise arms to the sun, run through a night storm, embracing and unveiling eyes.
“Constantly regulating temperature, it changes colour to protect from ultraviolet rays. Containing more than 300 million cells, waterproof and yet absorbent when necessary. Killing most surface bacteria to protect from disease. Million of receptors rapidly sense its surroundings. Constantly growing, constantly replacing itself every month. When damaged it heals itself. Your skin is amazing. Keep it that way.” The tagline: “Vaseline – keeping skin amazing”.
Credits
Vaseline Sea was developed at Bartle Bogle Hegarty, New York, by executive creative director Kevin Roddy, group creative director Kash Sree, creative director Craig Smith, art directors Jon Randazzo and Andre Massis, copywriters Jordan Kramer and Amir Farhang, head of TV Bruce Wellington, senior producer Julian Katz, and account director Maxim Dashkin.
Filming for Vaseline Sea was directed by Ivan Zacharias via Smuggler and Stink, with director of photography Jan Velicky, executive producers Brian Carmody and Patrick Milling Smith, and producer Nick Landon. The boats, forest and factory scenes were shot in Spain. The rest was filmed in Iceland with support from TrueNorth producer Árni Páll Hansson.
Editing was done by Filip Malasek at Robota.
Post production was done at The Mill, London. Lead Inferno Artist: Barnsley and Flint assist Gareth Brannan had the task of beautifying hundreds of naked bodies to make them acceptable for broadcasting. Many body parts were painted out or covered up. Barnsley added some extra bodies to the crowd scenes. In the desert scene he tripled the number of people in the shot. The 3D team (3D producer Miles Petit, 3D artists Jamie Lancaster and David Knight) and flame artists created the factory setting, the modern church (hand raising), the lightning bolts and sky replacements. Senior colourist Seamus O’Kane graded the film in Spirit.
Sound was designed by Srdjan Kurpjel at Wave Studios, London.
The track for Vaseline Sea is “Ten-Day Interval” from the Tortoise album, TNT.
The advertisement won a Gold at the Clio Awards, May 11, 2007.
I hate these adverts they make my skin crawl and itch.
i like the bottoms.
The American version of these ads apparently leave out quite a bit. Nevertheless, these ads “creep me out”. My teen kids say the people “look like a lot of creepy nudists or exhibitionists.” They make me think of how dirty and bacteria covered skin would become if it was exposed in a vulnerable fashion like this all the time. Granted, we are experiencing a surge of MRSA (methicillin resistant staph aureus bacteria) in the US right now, and all people are encouraged to wash their hands frequently, especially if touching objects others are touching! You can see why these ads would be gross!
Okay, I just watched it again. What’s up with the creepy naked zombies at the beginning (swaying back and forth in slow motion with eyes closed, apparently “out of it”), the distance shot of hundreds of people crammed into boats (looks like bacteria in the blood stream), the crowd of naked people in some kind of abandoned cement buiding worshipping a distant view of city that looks like New York, and the lovie-dovie-hippie-dippies all hugging each other in a big naked love-in at the end. And I love hippies!
I’m astounded that people have a “creepy” reaction to seeing human bodies. Our bodies are who we are! If you’re creeped out by the sight of human bodies, then you are creeped out by the very existence of the human race.
Does the sight of a naked deer creep you out? A naked elephant? A naked giraffe? Why, out of all the naked bodies in the world, are we creeped out by the sight of our own species’ body?
This can’t possibly be a healthy thing. Sit back and ponder for a moment why we let our society brainwash us into being ashamed of our own bodies to the point where we are creeped out at the very sight of them. No wonder lack of self-worth is such a problem. We are ashamed of ourselves at a basic level.
Nah, it’s not the nudity that’s creepy, it’s the sullen, dark zombie-like demeanor on the faces. It’s creeped me out since it’s been running on TV. And it won a Clio?
Your skin is a whole lot cleaner and less “germy” than any clothing. If you are worried about MRSA, you’d be better off being a creepy nudist or exhibitionist.
Who wrote the Asian sounding music for the ad?
Tim
timothy_mckenna@emerson.edu
I believe the music is by Srdjan Kurpjel, composer at Wave Studios.
I personally like the Senex ad.