Although in vastly different in the products they are selling, a recent Belgian perfume commercial has been uncovered that contains a shot that’s oddly similar to one in a 2017 Death Stranding trailer. Fans noticed the possible Death Stranding perfume commercial reference in an ad for Belgian cosmetics company O Boticário.
Reddit user u/Dellart posted the O Boticário ad on the Death Stranding subreddit. The whole thing has a spooky vibe reminiscent of Death Stranding‘s very Hideo Kojima-influenced marketing, but a particular shot around 0:53 resembles a shot from the Death Stranding teaser shown off at The Game Awards 2017, around 5:18. Each shot features a similar color palette, camera angle, and a gigantic, foreboding, faceless creature with tendrils coming out of its hands. But there is no baby in a canister in the O Boticário ad, though. You can take a look at each shot below.
O Boticário Perfume Ad
TGA 2017 Death Stranding Teaser
Interestingly, searching “Death Stranding perfume” on Twitter brings up several tweets from South American users, referencing perfume in relation to Death Stranding as far back as the game’s reveal on June 13, 2016. The earliest appears to come from Twitter user Mariano (@VenenoYDivas), who tweeted, “A beautiful perfume propaganda,” to which user Joh Pepper Lindemann (@WingedJoh) replied, “I would use a perfume called ‘Death Stranding.'”
yo re usaria un perfume llamado "death stranding"
— Joh Pepper Lindemann⁷ (@WingedJoh) June 14, 2016
The first English-language tweet referencing those terms came on the same day, from user VortexPD.
Haha someone mentioned the Death Stranding looked like a perfume commercial, holy shit it does
— VortexPD (@vortexpd) June 14, 2016
It’s unclear who first mentioned Death Stranding‘s resemblance to stereotypical perfume commercials. Perhaps it was a streamer or a games journalist commentating over the reveal, if not one of these Twitter users. Either way, it makes one wonder if whoever pitched this O Boticário ad also heard that “someone mentioned” said resemblance and saw an opportunity for inspiration. After all, the similarities between the two seem far too exact to be a coincidence, so it’s be possible that the Death Stranding perfume commercial reference may have been intentional.
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And while it didn’t contain any perfume, this recent Death Stranding trailer revealed the game’s November 8, 2019 release date.
