Grab your tissues, this is not your average advert…
BY SOPHIE GRIFFITHS, IMAGE VIA RENAULT UK
The new Renault Clio advert is a beautiful lesbian love story and it is certainly tugging on people’s heartstrings.
This campaign has been launched by Renault for their All-New Clio model, as a celebration of their 30 year anniversary.
In our opinion, they couldn’t have done it better. Set to an emotional rendition of Wonderwall, the advert comes as a show of acceptance and inclusion for the LGBTQI community. A kind that is rarely seen in advertising, or often on TV at all.
It follows the lifelong love story of two girls who met through a French exchange when they were young. The plot alone feels wonderfully cinematic as it punctuates each point in their life with each edition of the famous Renault Clio.
The pair are shown throughout their summer together, playing on a swing, laughing while eating ice cream and becoming totally inseparable.
When they eventually have to part ways, in true lez/bi fashion, they turn this into a long distance relationship, staying in touch via mail and meeting up later on in life as teenagers where they share their first kiss in a Renault Clio (of course).
The father finds their love letters, lending for an emotional scene where his reaction seems to put an end to the girls’ romance.
Both women try to put their romance behind them, and carry on life without each other. In a brutally painful moment, the redhead even has to happily watch as her lover marries a man.
We won’t spoil the ending for you, but we’ll just say it’s the stuff of Hollywood films and we need a full two hour version of this immediately.
Adam Wood, Marketing Director at Renault UK said of their new ad, “Renault brings people’s passion for life a little closer through our cars. We wanted to humanise and celebrate, not just 30 years of progress of the Renault Clio, but also the progress made within culture, society and life in that time. The Renault Clio is as in tune with the times today as it always has been.”
Whoever wrote and directed this needs an award! It’s made us want to buy a Clio, find a French girlfriend and start a family all at once.
We hope the huge reaction to the advert will lead to more LGBTQI inclusive advertising, so we can continue to feel seen and counted in the media.
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I loved this ad – I’m a life coach for LGBT+ women who are struggling with their sexuality or coming out later in life and this ad is SO IMPORTANT to help normalise same sex relationships