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Campaigns: There’s Nothing Glamorous About Addiction
Dior launched its advertising campaign in late 2002. One advertisement depicted an anxious woman showing outward physical symptoms often associated with addiction, such as a gaunt face with deeply shadowed eyes.
Congressman Speaks Out
The Dior ads for its new Addict line of fragrance, lipstick and nail polish showed “a complete disregard for the millions of people who suffer from the disease of addiction and their families," said Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-MN), who called Dior’s campaign "the ultimate in corporate irresponsibility." Ramstad, a member of the recovery community, is a leading congressional voice for improved policies for prevention and treatment of alcohol and other drug problems.
"Dior's abuses trivialize America's No. 1 public-health problem – alcohol and other drug addiction," Ramstad said.” We need a tremendous public outcry against Dior's campaign to glamorize the disease of addiction – the same public outcry that would result if Dior tried to glamorize other deadly diseases like cancer or AIDS. We need to put public pressure on Dior to pull the ‘Addict’ campaign and rename the product."
Over the Edge
According to fashion journalist Robin Givhan, writing in the October 25, 2002, Washington Post, “The promotional campaign also includes an Internet film featuring a sweaty and anxious model who appears to be craving a fix . . . of Dior Addict lipstick. Her jones is satisfied by the film's end when she smears a bright red gloss on her pouting lips. The tag line for the campaign is ‘Admit it.’
Susan Rook, former Faces & Voices director of communications and outreach, charged that Dior appropriated the term "addict," as well as the “language of addiction of recovery,” for marketing purposes. “The fashion industry has always gone close to the edge,” Rook told the Post. “I don't have any problem with being edgy... but this goes over the edge."
Faces & Voices’ advocacy prompted Foley’s department store in Texas and the U.S. Army to discontinue its stocking of the Dior Addict products, and in the end, Parfums Christian Dior vowed to recast its campaign in a way that distinguished between consumer “addiction” to their scent and the overall lifestyle and condition of real addiction to alcohol and drugs.
Springboard for Education, Action
The campaign brought support from a wide array of individuals and organizations, including the President’s Advisory Commission on Drug-Free Communities, Remembering Adam, Families Against Drugs and National Alliance of Methadone Advocates and local and state-based groups such as Florida Office of Drug Control, MomsTell, Maine Youth Advocates, Partnership for a Drug Free Detroit, Partnership for a Drug-Free North Carolina and Recovery Alliance of El Paso. Skyler Kelley, a young artist from Maine, painted a mural at his local drop-in center for recovering youth, the Garage, challenging the Dior campaign. “Dior Addict: Whose Lines Are You Pushing?” Kelley asked.
"The 'Addiction is Not Fashionable' campaign provides an excellent springboard to educate our communities about the true colors of addiction and those in recovery from it.,” observed Major General Arthur T. Dean, U.S. Army (ret.). Dean, head of the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) said, “Just as we must work to teach parents and communities about drug abuse and addiction, so too, must we educate those who sell products in our great country. As recent successes in El Paso and the military community prove, change is possible when people come together, create a coalition and work hand-in-hand to build safe, healthy and drug-free communities."
Parfums Christian Dior Responds to Faces & Voices Protests
Paris-based cosmetics manufacturer Parfums Christian Dior spoke with representatives of the recovery community and their allies about their marketing promotion of the fragrance Addict Dior. This meeting capped several months of protest by the recovery community. Shortly after the January 2003 dialogue, the company’s President, Claude Martinez, sent a response in a January 23, 2003 letter to Susan Rook, Director of Communications and Outreach and Rick Sampson, Executive Director, Faces and Voices of Recovery; Stacia Murphy, President, National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence; and Sharon Smith, President, MOMStell.