MAIA ACTIVE joins the chime of diverse beauty, that’s been on the rise in Chinese adland, with a new commercial film.
拥抱多元美，是最近中国广告界的新趋势，MAIA ACTIVE近日也凭着一支新广告加入了这一行列。
A little over a minute, the ad features 7 women, who openly say “I’m not beautiful”, expressing that they are so much more. Light, aesthetically-pleasing, and very on trend, the video attempts to challenge the idea of “pretty” with a message “I’m so unique, and you only care if I”m pretty?”. Just like an underwear brand Neiwai’s campaign that seemingly put them at the forefront of “body positivity/diverse beauty” in China, MAIA ACTIVE abandons the standards, and features real women.
在仅仅一分多钟的篇幅里，这只广告展示了七位与众不同的女性，她们大声宣告“我不是漂亮”，因为她们比漂亮要丰富得多。轻盈，悦目又很潮，这只短片意图挑战“漂亮”，并告诉大众“我这么独一无二，你却只关心我漂不漂亮？” – 内衣品牌Neiwai内外也曾有过类似的宣传活动，并由成为了中国“正能量/多元美 身材” 的代表品牌，而MAIA ACTIVE此次打破规则，展示真实女性的价值输出，与内外如出一辙。
From the accompanying article on brand’s WeChat account, the audience can find out who the main characters are. Aged from 22 to 36, MAIA Girls include a freelancer, a fitness blogger who’s now pregnant, an unconventional model, a casting director, a comedienne, an account director, and a hearing-impaired dancer. Featuring real women along side an open line “I’m not beautiful, I’m______” earned the brand likes, and nearly a million views of the video on official Weibo alone. The users comments are a show of self acceptance, love and supporting the idea of individuality, taking the ad’s copy for quotes.
通过微信官方公众号的配文，观众可以了解到这些女主角们的真实身份。她们的年龄在22到36岁，这些女性有自由职业者，怀孕的健身博主，模特，选角导演，喜剧女演员，公众号运营者和一位失聪的舞者。展示这些真实的女性，并以 “我不是漂亮，我是______”突出她们独一无二的魅力，让品牌收获了大众的好感，这部短片光在微博就有将近100万的点击率。而网友的评论则包括了自我接纳，爱与对个人主义的支持，还有不少网友引用了广告文案。
Weibo comments: “Even though it’s an ad, I like the message it’s transmitting”
“I like this cheerful style, and “follow your way” lifestyle”
“I’m not pretty, I“m lively, unrestrained, and glowing”
#I’m not pretty#, I’m learning how to love myself
“Pursuing beauty is not a mistake, just enough with the dissatisfaction with yourself~ I’m so unique, and you only care if I’m beautiful? Except being beautiful, life can also be vivid”
If after seeing the ad, a viewer rushes to the MAIA ACTIVE online store to browse through the collections, there’s a little disappointment. Although the commercial film seemingly embraces diversity, current MAIA ACTIVE selection does not. The plus-size character, who opens the video with a statement “I’m not beautiful, I’m XXXL beautiful”, for instance, would find it hard to shop there— a very few selected designs go up to XL, and all the models, unlike the characters in the ad, uniformly correspond to the “thin, white, beautiful” standard.
但若观众在观看影片后，马上登陆MAIA ACTIVE的网店去浏览商品的话，可能会有点失望。虽然广告本身似乎在拥抱多元美，但MAIA ACTIVE当前的产品却是另一种姿态。举例来说，片中大码女主角的宣言是 “我不是漂亮，我是XXXL漂亮”，但她可能在MAIA ACTIVE的网店里买不到心仪的衣服 —— 只有很少一部分产品最大能买到XL码，且所有模特都是清一色地 “白瘦美”，与广告中的女主角们相去甚远。
With individualism and desire for self-expression as a key driving force for consumer habits change, Chinese women will “increasingly turn away from outdated ‘ideals” in a little over a decade, as some marketing reports predict. Beauty, fashion, sports and other brands now gradually tap into that potential with various degree of success. Shooting a commercial film that speaks with the target audience in a trendy language of “self love” might be easier than actually transmitting these values in everything a brand does. That’s a much bigger change yet to come, but in the meantime, the audience in China seems to welcome commercial films like MAIA ACTIVE, that finishes on empowering note “I chose any verb, noun, adjective, particle, modal verb, or exclamation. I’m so unique, and you only care if I’m pretty. Why don’t you think twice”.
个人主义，展示自我的潮流，正在推动着大众审美转变，这也改变了消费者的消费习惯，据市场调查预测，中国女性将在十年左右的时间里“逐步摒弃过时的‘完美’”。美妆，时尚，运动以及其他相关品牌，也在逐步转型，迎合这一趋势，并或多或少地因此成功。但拍一部迎合目标观众的广告，讲几句酷炫的宣言，凸显“爱自己”的主题，或许比真正把这些价值观落实到品牌的方方面面容易得多。由内而外的大转变需要时间，但目前看来，中国观众似乎还是很欢迎类似MAIA ACTIVE这种广告的，特别是最后那一句彰显女性力量的结束语：“我是任何我想成为的动词、名词、形容词、助词、语气词、象声词。我这么独一无二， 你却只关心我漂不漂亮。你要不要再考虑一下？”
CREDITS 制片团队
Client 客户: MAIA ACTIVE
摄影指导 DoP ：王淼
声音设计/剪辑师 Sound Design/Editor：SHIHAO
执行制片 Production Manager：Vica 杨心怡
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