Harrods isn't just a tourist attraction ok? And if you disagree with us we'll send the boys round to kick the living shit out of you.
That seems to be the message behind Harrods' new ad campaign as revealed in today's Independent.
As you can see from the image here, the normally conservative and relatively sane Mohammed Al Fayed has chosen Ray Winstone and Amir Khan to front the new campaign in an attempt "to dispel the notion that it is just another stop on the London tourist itinerary."
According to the report the Harrods marketing team began last year with a list of 60 'personalities' (they don't like the c-word) that they wanted to use in the ads which revolve around the question "If there was one thing you could have from Harrods, what would it be?"
Aparently that initial list ddn't quite work out becasue Billy Piper has made it into the finished campaign along with the woman out of Spooks (Keeley Hawes). Collectively these names are supposed to "reach people in the UK, with a fair - but not total - London bias. We particularly wanted people who are British because Harrods is a quintessentially British department store."
As for what the 'personalities' really wanted to buy at Harrods: Khan wanted a box at Bolton Wanderers (possible through the store's 'By Appointment' private shopping service apparently); Winstone went for a £999 state-of-the-art Dressman shirt-steamer (we like it); and Piper actually did herself proud by opting for "Jammy Dodger-flavoured ice-cream" which didn't actually exist until she made it up, but will be available from the gelateria in the Food Hall very soon (we must send someone down to review it - any volunteers?).
And now we have to ask the inevitable question: If there was one thing Londonist readers could have from Harrods, what would it be?
