Review of Burberry with Are You Happy Fall 2021 Ad Campaign Film by Director Atdhe Trepça
Burberry partners with film director Atdhe Trepça’s Are You Happy project for an uplifting Fall 2021 film campaign.
Initially inspired by the work of a socially-minded group of early-60’s French psychologists, Trepça had the idea to ask strangers a deceptively simple question – are you happy? – and document the results on film.
Since then, the initial film has grown into an ongoing project, with the director traveling to cities across the world to ask people of all sorts of different backgrounds the same question, building up a fascinating and beautiful exploration of real human emotion.
Burberry tapped the director to recreate the project on the streets of London for a new campaign film. Blending his documentary style with a refined, art-film-esque sense of cinematic naturalism, the film follows the director as he poses the question to Burberry-clad Londoners on a crisp and sunny fall day.
It’s endlessly interesting to hear the range of responses from individuals who seem quite different from each other. Though everyone in the film does respond affirmatively to the question of whether they are happy, their reasonings and explanations of what it actually means to be happy seems quite different.
Watching the film, we almost feel tempted to take to the streets and start asking strangers the question ourselves; it’s a deep yet simple way to access and empathize with the experience of others.
Though the film lacks the truly spontaneous, documentarian quality of Trepça’s usual work with Are You Happy – the encounters are styled and staged – it does a great job of translating its message across the different format. Burberry is wise to align themselves with Trepça’s work, coming together for a story – or rather, many individual stories – that celebrates connection, individuality, and empathy, inviting everyone to consider their ability to make positive changes in their own life and the lives of others.
Director | Atdhe Trepça