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GUCCI’S GREEN PASTURES: Gucci is spotlighting its support for the protection of wildlife animal species and their natural habitats with its pre-fall 2020 ad campaign.
In February, the Italian luxury brand joined the The Lion’s Share Fund, a non-for-profit organization that raises money to protect endangered species by partnering with global brands and advertisers using animals in their ad campaigns. Gucci has pledged to donate 0.5 percent of its paid media spend to the organization every time an animal appears in one of its advertisements.
In its latest ad campaign lensed by Gucci’s longtime collaborator Alasdair McLellan under the creative direction of Alessandro Michele, deer, fawns, owls, blue birds, skunks, squirrels, frogs, hedgehogs, ducks and rabbits flank the models enjoying their time under the sun in a playground with swings and slides and flanked by a waterway.
In keeping with the sense of free-spirited eclecticism that has become deeply connected with Gucci’s image in the Michele era, the images candidly portray a range of characters hula hooping or playing the flute and reconnecting with the natural environment. The Florentine house described the campaign as an “ode to retrieved innocence, a return to the infant world,” the same theme Michele developed for the men’s fall 2020 lineup presented last January. The images are flanked by a short movie also directed by McLellan.
Announcing the tie-up with The Lion’s Share Fund, Gucci’s president and chief executive officer Marco Bizzarri described the move as “an important addition to our conservation strategy.”
“Nature and wildlife provide Gucci with inspired creation that is an integral part of our narrative through our collections and campaigns. With the increasing threats to the planet’s biodiversity, groundbreaking initiatives like the Lion’s Share Fund have the potential to be transformative by organically connecting the business community with direct action to protect our natural habitats and most threatened species,” he said at the time.
The Lion’s Share Fund was established by film director Christopher Nelius and producer Rob Galluzzo, founder of FINCH, a production company based in Australia. Led by the United Nations Development Programme and a coalition of businesses, the fund aims to raise more than $100 million a year within the next five years for animal conservation, biodiversity and climate.
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