New Boots ad 'reboots' beauty approach with stuntwoman as star

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Apr 12, 2017

UK health and beauty giant Boots is aiming to step outside conventional beauty marketing with a new video ad in its Ready campaign to market its new No7 Restore & Renew face and neck serum.

It moves away from traditional beauty notions of femininity and glamour (while also offering a strong dose of both), as well as youth and passivity, while also starring a black protagonist in an industry dominated by white models.

Like earlier ads in the same series, it features an older ‘model’, with female strength as a major theme. The protagonist is Amanda Foster, 50, a leading stuntwoman.

Foster, who has stunt-doubled for some of the entertainment industry’s biggest names (including Beyoncé, Halle Berry and Whoopi Goldberg), is seen striding through a penthouse building and as an alarm sounds, smashing through the glass of a window and plunging into the centre of an airbag as she doubles for a young actress.

“I’ve never been the right age to jump out of a building,” says the voiceover.

Taking female empowerment further, the ad was directed by Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe-winner Susanne Bier who directed hit TV drama The Night Manager.

The Ready series focuses on what women are getting ready for, rather than them simply getting ready. Earlier iterations featured award-winning author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and ballerina Alessandra Ferri who is shown performing a dance in sync with a film of a younger version of herself.