Oh. well. Okay.

I cannot fathom with any part of my intellectual consciousness why H&M chose Katy Perry to front this campaign. She irrelevant at the moment, without any new material, and has basically been off the media grid for months. Adele would have been a smarter choice, and would have caused an absolute sensation if she have appeared in the ads in spite of her media-shyness. Sadly, we are instead saddled with Perry posing with candy, yet again. I like the bold black, red, and white color scheme, but that’s the only thing this series has going for it.

This is a brilliant choice by Fossil. By choosing someone famous for being in fashion to front the campaign, Fossil is sending a signal that they know what’s relevant in fashion culture, which will cause fashion-forward people to look twice at what they thought was a nonbrand found only in outlet malls. Leandra is someone known for her personal style, which associates individuality and personalization with Fossil, and not just tragic leather goods and watches.She’s shrewd, sardonic,and authentic, and you can guarantee she wouldn’t do this campaign if she didn’t believe in it, adding another layer of credibility. Wear fossil, become a chic, witty, fashion businesswoman? I’ll take it.

Old Navy, in a move of unutterable genius, tapped Portlandia duo Fred Armison and Carrie Brownstein for a holiday short videos. I thought Old Navy was ready to be stuck with a fork when its CEO left to helm Ralph Lauren, but they have, with this casting choice, reinvigorated their relevancy with awareness of the cool, informed, media culture and a sense of humor. Will this help Old Navy compete with fast fashion? Well there’s the problem — Old Navy’s content isn’t good or fashionable enough to really do damage to fast-fashion chains, who clearly don’t rely on advertising to sell their clothes  (see evidence above). It will, however, get Old Navy back in consumers’ consciousness. What they really need is a cult item that will get people back in stores, like their early 2000s flag tees or mid 2000s madras craze, and then integrate cool capsule collections and a fast fashion business model, at least in part, to keep them there. But at the moment, this is a great step in the right direction.