Of all the advertisements that I crossed my gaze as I flipped through my collection of fashion magazines last week, only one stood out. It was a full-page ad for the Sak handbags in Women’s Wear Daily. Instead of showing a bag in the hands of a model, it was a chicken selling the goods, and the work of artist and writer, Sloane Tanen.

An article on Brandweek reported on the new advertising campaign last month:

"The $1-2 million campaign is an effort on the part of the San Francisco-based handbag brand to differentiate itself from the usual pack of accessories ads that traditionally feature model-with-product images.

'This campaign is a way for us to stand out,' said Arianna Brooke, vp marketing. 'The handbag market has exploded in the past five years. We must fight aggressively at every level, and our images have to work that much harder.'"

Brooke also talked to the Daily News about the new campaign

"We wanted to speak to women in an entertaining, funny way… The handbag space has become incredibly crowded. You're fighting for the customer's attention."

The ads are defiantly getting a lot of attention in the PR and advertising circles.

Someone at Ad Rants speculated that the company was "unable to afford overpriced super models.”

I personally love it, partly because I’m a huge fan of Tanen’s books, “Bitter with Baggage Seeks Same: The Life and Times of Some Chickens," and Going For The Bronze: Still Bitter, More Baggage. In both, Tanen constructs life-like diorama scenes for a cast of fluffy, yellow, plastic bobble-eyed chickens. They, like the characters of some bizarre soap opera, live ridiculously complicated lives. Especially for chickens, and that’s what makes it so funny.

For the Sak ads, Tanen kept it in the same vein. In one of the scenes that she created for the handbag company, it shows a chicken sitting on the floor of her walk-in closet. The caption below reads,

"At the end of every relationship, Minerva treated herself to a new hand bag. She still hadn’t found Mr. Right, but her latest purchase was really easing the blow."

I also like the idea of advertisers having a sense of humor. Any flip though a fashion magazine will reveal a slew luxury products, worn or held in the arms of bored or pissed off looking models. Where’s the fun in that? Also great about the Tenen/Sak collaboration is that for once, a handbag advertisement is sort of relatable, even if it’s starring a chicken. Whether women like to admit it or not, there is something sort of emotional tied to the purchase of something that’s a luxury, whether it be guilt, comfort, or exhilaration. Tanen hit that point right on the head.