A sexy video that uses a naked man to advertise a luxury Bondi apartment has been removed from the realestate.com website.
But the agency that created the clip claims it breaks no rules and is a clever way to attract potential buyers to the Edwardian apartment.
It has been posted on the agency’s website as well as YouTube and Domain. But realestate.com pulled it from its site due to “nudity”.
The video features a toned, naked Italian man waking up in a contemporary bedroom barely covered by a white sheet. The Italian backpacker, known only as “Antonio” leaves little to the imagination, especially when he steps into the shower, dries off and gets dressed.
After taking a selfie, Antonio receives a text from “Lisa” as he’s leaving his pad, saying, “Thanks for last night. Love your new place …”
Reece Coleman from The Agency estate agents in Double Bay told The Newsroom the ad has had over 300,000 views and only two negative comments.
“Where does it breach guidelines?” Mr Coleman said. “I need to make the client’s property stand out. The whole idea was to get people in to see the apartment for themselves.”
Antonio is actually an Italian backpacker from Rome, recruited for the project from Gumtree.
Ricky Pannowitz posted his thoughts on the YouTube video’s page, saying it was “Tackorama”: “Imagine if that was a woman? It would cause an outrage. The inference is quite sleazy and tacky.”
The boutique apartment at 1/258 Bondi Road, Bondi Beach, goes to auction on November 14 and is expected to fetch $2.3 million.
The Agency said it was impressed with the feedback from this project and already has two similar digital marketing endeavours under way. – Olivia Grace-Curran
Top photo screenshot from YouTube video.
About the author
