Wow, watching this ad makes me think that Specsavers are completely ignorant of the types of frames currently in favour. People love (and obsessively collect!) the Cazal-style glasses that the “dork” puts on in the end of this video. It’s hardly surprising that I walked into a Specsavers for the first time and found a rows-upon-rows of unimaginative little-rectangle-frames.
This is kind of related – eyewear giant Luxottica own retail chain OPSM in NZ and Australia and they recently conducted a survey. Here’s the press release with the results:
Glasses now more chic than geek
It seems that geek has truly become ‘chic’ with a new survey revealing some surprising statistics about New Zealanders attitude to glasses.
The online survey [The OPSM Style Review, Online Survey, February 2010], commissioned by OPSM and conducted by an independent research company, confirms that glasses are sexy and can even help when you’re applying for a job.
Six out of ten of those surveyed believe wearing glasses help improve your chances of getting a new job, and just over half of those surveyed believe colleagues take those who wear glasses more seriously.
Overall, glasses have class according to New Zealanders. Considering the appearance attributes of glasses, a solid 70 per cent or more of respondents think they make people look knowledgeable, likeable, professional, stylish, successful and trustworthy.
OPSM spokesperson Jason Dhana says the survey results speak for themselves.
“The survey clearly indicates the stigma attached to glasses is well and truly gone. A staggering 74% believe that glasses can make people look sexy – you would never have got a result like that ten years ago.”
On the fashion front, a massive 94 per cent of respondents agreed glasses are now more fashionable than ever.
“New Zealanders love their glasses and believe they can not only enhance their appearance, but job prospects too,” Jason says. “It’s exciting to see that people are now viewing glasses in a really positive light – they’re more stylish and popular than ever before.”
Results
The online survey was conducted by independent research company Stellar Market Research Pty Ltd in February 2010 among 482 respondents in New Zealand aged between 18 and 60+
- 60.6% believe wearing glasses helps improve employment chances
- 56.2% believe wearing glasses helps to make a better impression at a job interview
- 55.8% believe wearing glasses makes a positive first impression in the workplace
- 53.9% believe colleagues wearing glasses are taken more seriously
- 74.1% believe that glasses can make people look sexy
- 92.7% believe glasses are more stylish than they used to be
- More than 1 in 4 would consider wearing glasses as a fashion accessory, even if they didn’t need them to see
- 76.6% have noticed someone wearing glasses and thought how great they looked
- Glasses can make people look attractive (75.9%), authoritative (73.2%), confident (74.1%), creative (73.4%), credible (77%), hard-working (71.2), intelligent (78%), knowledgeable (77.2%), professional (78.2%), stylish (77.6%), trustworthy (73%) and successful (76.3%)
We don’t need your stinky statistics to know we’re smart and hot. So there!
Not sure if you know but it’s a parody of a Lynx advert.
It is a strange choice of frame though. I think a few years ago they would have used a big, chunky retro frame, but they’re fashionable now so they’ve tried to choose something “inappropriate” for him.
But like you the first thing my girlfriend said when seeing the advert was that she quite liked the frames!
I agree Jo, Specsavers has got it very wrong. These red glasses, like Andy says, don’t suit him but they’re not particularly uncool. I’m not keen, mainly because they’re a bit cheap and brash, but they’re a hundred times cooler than most of the MOTR, style-free crap you see in your average Speccies.
Specsavers has always been about 5 years behind the fashion curve – expect more publicity like this before they start to notice.
We’ve had similar research findings in the UK, with 62% of primary school children thinking wearing glasses is cool.
Great post – keep up the good work down there!
Jo,
as always, nice article. I hadn’t actually seen this specsavers ad. You are absolutely right though and I totally agree with you, they have it sooo wrong. Or maybe not wrong, maybe they think with frames like the good old Cazal style, they can’t reach their sales targets.
You see, Specsavers (like most of the other giants) is NOT about style and individualism. Specsavers is about meeting sales targets.
The real heros are the small (still) independent optical retailers that are passionate about what they do, the ones that have the guts to stock those truly cool retro styles, even if they never become “mainstream”.
Specsavers do deserve a medal, because of their (successful) attempt to make glasses a fashion accessory for the mainstream. Thanks to Gok, they have succeeded in that quite well.
Still, if you are looking for something different, something that allows you to express your individuality, something with true STYLE and something where the beauty is in the detail, then stay away from the giants.
I’ve been thinking about ditching my glasses and getting some eye surgery. What do you think about LasikEyeSurgery.org ?
I don’t want Lasik, but I know people who have had it.
I would have to be REALLY UNHAPPY with my glasses before I let anyone take a knife (or laser) to them. But, having said that, we have seen many clients for aftercare consultations, after they had Lasik operations and the vast majority seems very happy with the procedure and the result.