Reality TV stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag have admitted to setting up pap shots, while paparazzo and creator of Stupid Famous People, Justin Steffman, told Cosmopolitan many setup photos include a paid-for element “where a photo agency works as a middleman between a celebrity and a company who has a product to sell.”
The Spring 2024 campaign from Italian design house Bottega Veneta flipped this narrative on its head. First, it dressed artist A$AP Rocky and model Kendall Jenner head to toe in its clothes, then it sent them to go about their daily lives. The resulting paparazzi photos were lifted straight for the wires and Bottega put its logo over the top of shots from Getty and BackGrid.
The resulting campaign was both meta and chic. Tom Garland, co-founder of brand consultancy Edition+Partners, said the brand was speaking the language of its customers. Other brands, including Gucci, quickly emulated the deliberate paparazzi feel of the creative.
“This was content that hacked culture and made us look at the same image twice. That’s a powerful thing,” he said, though he cautioned this trend could become “tired quick” if brands rinse and repeat it.
