“She had a laugh about it, made a few jokes about how funny it was that she’d be out there with underwear models around her,” says Roy Leibowitz, one of the campaign’s creative directors.
Yes, renowned chimpanzee researcher Jane Goodall is appearing in an ad campaign for underwear. No, she didn’t actually trudge through the jungle with models, photographers and lighting people.
Underwear-clad models stand in a rainforest, surrounded by ferns. Sunlight shines through the morning mist. “Humans,” intones renowned primatologist Dr Jane Goodall. “What unusual animals we are.”
As the camera pans over a closeup shot of a male model’s boxer briefs, the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees says, “It’s a big job making our world a better place, but getting started? Well, that’s as easy as changing your underwear.”
This 30-second ad, for Australian underwear company Boody, is now airing. Billboards from the campaign will soon be erected around Sydney and Melbourne.
“It’s interesting,” says Associate Prof Michal Carrington, a researcher in ethical consumption at Melbourne University. “Because you wouldn’t expect Dame Jane Goodall to be fronting a campaign for underwear.”
The article adds:
Goodall’s fee – a sum Boody are not contractually allowed to disclose – was paid directly to the Jane Goodall Institute.
It’s not the first time Goodall has appeared in advertising – she has also modelled for Stella McCartney and appeared in commercials for HP.
While the final cut of the commercial shows Goodall surrounded by models, the ad was shot in two parts. Goodall was filmed against a green screen in London, while the rest of the campaign footage was captured in Australia. Then, she was superimposed into the scene.
