It’s happened again! We read recently that the sunglasses worn by President Macron to hide a burst blood vessel in his eye, during an appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, have become a must-have. Great news for the brand, less so for anyone hoping to get hold of a pair of Henry Jullien aviators like the French politician’s.
Macron’s Top Gun effect has lifted shares in eyewear makers, just as happened recently with Maduro’s now-iconic ‘arrest tracksuit’, which went viral after his capture and sold out in a matter of hours.
What’s going on with us as consumers? Why does demand for certain products suddenly explode until they’re impossible to get?
In both cases, international exposure completely upended the manufacturers’ forecasts. Stefano Fulchir, CEO of iVision Tech, the Italian group that owns Henry Jullien, told the radio station RTL that this year they’ll go from making around a hundred pairs a year to about a thousand.
Henry Jullien, a luxury brand made entirely in France, is a small firm based near the Swiss border with barely a dozen staff, and its website crashed the day Macron appeared before the world in his blue mirrored sunglasses. An accessory meant to hide a health issue ended up sending a message of power, masculinity and action at a key moment. So much so that Trump, referring to the French leader a few days later, remarked that he was “playing the tough guy with his glasses”.
Media exposure and symbolism are two decisive factors that make a product or brand capture public interest and go beyond itself. Those who rushed to buy them (it wasn’t just the memes that spread across social media from 20 January, when the image of Macron went viral; according to Google Trends, worldwide searches for Henry Jullien glasses also soared, peaking at 7am on Wednesday 21 January) were probably longing for that stylish, valuable item that conveys strength, youth, confidence and determination: the image of a modern hero.
Macron’s sunglasses are a clear example of accidental viral marketing and earned media. An advertising phenomenon where a product becomes unattainable because of explosive demand driven by the desire to identify with a leading figure, or to turn the product into a collector’s item or an out-of-reach status symbol.
