US – Sexual wellness brand SKYN has playfully eluded censorship in its latest campaign, which prompts people to explore pleasure and intimacy.
Created by the Sid Lee Paris agency, Explore Uncensored Pleasures is a series of videos shot in a lo-fi amateur style, staging couples sharing intimate moments. To steer clear of pornographic associations and to arouse curiosity, the graphic contents have been concealed with the help of blurred rectangles and hints about the product used by the couple.
This allows the brand to bypass censorship and intrigue the viewer, and showcases its products – condoms, lubes and sex toys – ‘in action’, where it usually wouldn’t be possible. ‘We wanted to leverage censorship into an opportunity to talk about intimacy and turn what might previously have stopped conversations taking place into something that drives curiosity,’ shared creative directors Céline and Clément Mornet-Landa.
SKYN’s depiction of unfiltered and multi-faceted sexuality aligns with our Unrefined Intimacy design direction, where we explore raw, inclusive and confrontational new narratives around sex and pleasure.
Strategic opportunity
SKYN’s campaign shows how brands can employ playfulness to convey their message despite censorship, but also amplify the impact and use this limitation to their advantage