The Publics

I was quite struck by DDB Berlin’s award-winning campaign for Funk Sunglasses “No one needs to know what you did last night” . The eyeball-narrative illustrations, which contain references to ecstasy, marijuana and cocaine, succinctly communicate the two following ideas:

A new utility: these glasses will cover up your unseemly bloodshots when you drag your coke hangover into work Monday morning.

Lifestyle: people who wear Funk sunglasses live wild, wild lives filled with sex, drugs, disco parties and crime.

I have a friend who owns a couple pairs of Funk and these ads are fairly representative of his lifestyle, so apparently DDB did their homework. What’s really interesting about the ads is they are indicative of how sunglasses have evolved from a device designed to protect our eyes from ultraviolet radiation into a fashionable extension of one’s cultural super-ego.

Back in the 80s the idea of wearing sunglasses at night was mere novelty, but now if you walk into a nite-club on any given weekend you’ll find countless individuals wearing shades and hanging in the cut. Can they see anything? not really. But the fact that you cannot see their eyes allows them to further disguise their motives in an environment where projecting a perception of elitism is the key to success.

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