Shiseido Japan’s same-sex kiss ad wins gold in Epica advertising awards

The artistic commercial secured a Grand Prix win as well as a gold award for the film category.

The Epica Awards are held each year to celebrate the most creative, envelope-pushing works in the fields of PR, commercial products and graphic design. Though the event originated in Paris, France, since 2012 it has become a thoroughly global affair, accepting entries from all over the world and commemorating the top three entries in a given category with bronze, silver and gold certificates.

▼ Shiseido Japan’s entry, the enigmatic short film “The Party Bus – I can’t tell you that I love you“

Not only did The Party Bus win the gold certificate for its nominated category (Health and Beauty – Film), its win qualified it as an entry into the top-ranked award provided by the Epica Awards: The Film Grand Prix. Only entries ranked gold can compete in the Grand Prix awards, and Shiseido’s ad triumphed over mighty opponents such as Heineken and Mars to earn the top prize.

The theme of The Party Bus is that the heroine isn’t brave enough to confess her feelings. Amidst a busy party on a bus, she gains confidence through a beautiful animatic sequence involving her own makeup, and shares a kiss with her female love interest at the end of the film.

Shiseido Japan has openly shown support for the LGBT community through makeup workshops for transgender people and as co-sponsors of the LGBT event Tokyo Pride. Upon receiving the award, Shiseido’s creative director Masato Kosukegawa said “In Japanese culture there is a strong conservative tendency, and stories of LGBT are not commonly told yet. I think this film was probably the first work by a major Japanese company to address LGBT in an advertisement.”

He also thanked the short’s director, Shou Yanagisawa, and all the artists involved in the project. The film was intended to reach out to young people, and show them the strength that makeup can lend them “in this confused and divided world”.

At the time of writing, the video has over 7,600,000 views and has been embraced on social media with multiple unique reposts and ardent praise. With other advertising campaigns by Shiseido Japan proving successful, they’re definitely a company to keep your beautifully decorated eyes on!

Source: Genxy. Epica Awards
Images: YouTube/資生堂 Shiseido Co., Ltd.

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