cinema | WhaleTales Blog by Chris von Ulmenstein

Dita von Teese is not as well known in South Africa as she is in Europe and in the USA, and it is difficult to describe her accurately, in being a vaudeville star, a well-dressed fashion leader, and a star in music videos. She has become the new face of Perrier.

Von Teese was born Heather Smart, and grew up loving the 1940’s cinema and classic retro-style, writes Wikipedia. She was particularly fond of actress Betty Gable. Her career started in a strip club, she has been in Playboy on numerous occasions, and is called the “Queen of Burlesque”, in having “put the tease back into striptease”! She has starred in porn movies, and has featured in music videos.

So unique and fashionable is her image and appeal that Perrier, the largest brand of natural sparkling water in the world, has signed Von Teese as the face for their ‘Paparazzi’ 2010 Limited Edition series, carrying her image on their distinctive green bottles and cans in 150 countries. Perrier is low in sodium, and is the most sparkling of sparkling waters.

In the past Perrier has used artists such as Andy Warhol, Savignac, Villemot and Kiraz in its ‘Paparazzi’ series. Von Teese expressed delight at the association with Perrier: “I love the mythical history of Perrier and the quintessentially French Aesthetic attitude. It is so chic, refreshing and classic. Perrier is all the things I aspire to be”.

One wonders what Perrier sees in Von Teese, to have chosen her as their brand ambassador for 2010?!

The new Perrier packs are for sale in Cape Town and Johannesburg, at R12 – R25, in stylish restaurants and outlets. The website www.perrierbydita.com is incredibly slow to open, and has an age restriction of 18 years, requiring one to type in one’s birthdate. It is beautifully shot, but its content is tedious and boring.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter @WhaleCottage

The Sweet Service Award goes to Lourens and his Workshop team at Paarl Motors, for managing to get the replacement of a gearbox covered by a Mercedes Benz Maintenance Plan, which the car manufacturer had said had expired, despite the gearbox having been ordered 3 months ago. Instead of having to pay R 20 000 for the replacement, or 50 % of this under the maintenance plan, Lourens managed to persuade Mercedes Benz to not charge at all. This is the second Sweet Service Award which has been awarded to Paarl Motors.

The Sour Service Award goes to Cinema Nouveau in the V&A Waterfront. The cinema appears to have no manager on the floor, the manager’s office being upstairs and hidden from the ticket sales area, where most of the problems occur. The staff have attitude, are rude to their customers, constantly change, book one against the wall when one asks for a ticket on the aisle, and often do not even man the ticket booth and expect one to buy the ticket at the refreshment counter. The staff do not match the quality of the movies shown at the movie house, and have no interest in assisting clients when there is a problem. There is no way one can complain about the service, as there is no telephone number for the Waterfront branch – all calls go to a central call centre, and calls are not returned.

The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog. Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at info@whalecottage.com. Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.