The world of animation is rarely wanting for wanton women. From Betty Boop's naïve coyness to wildly inventive Japanese anime porn, depictions of female sexuality in cartoons have varied extremes in different countries. This particular cultural chasm was recently highlighted by a racy spot for Lux Provocateur soap that was conceived in Argentina, but executed in Oregon.

For a "fairytale full of dirty details," Buenos Aires-based agency Santo turned to Portland's Bent Image Lab, a production company known for pioneering new animation techniques. The story: A fair maiden is innocently carrying out pointless busywork in a forest when she discovers a bar of black soap lying on the ground. After taking an impromptu bath in a nearby pond, the maiden emerges from the water transformed as a sultry vixen and casts a sensual spell on every man (and beast) she encounters.

While the script's sexuality seemed overt enough on paper, a technique never-before attempted by Bent's animators would up the ante for the finished product. "The client really wanted a commercial that transcends its category in the way this soap defies expectations by being black," says Santo creative director Pablo Minces. "We knew the story would only work in animation, so in pitching the project we asked production companies to do something completely different."

The agency's initial inspiration to use stop motion came after the creatives saw Tim Burton's film, The Corpse Bride, but Bent wanted to go a step further. Executive producer Ray Di Carlo came up with an idea of placing a digitally-manipulated live-action face onto a traditional stop-motion puppet. Santo and Lux were impressed by the idea and Bent got the job. "The animators had to go to a strange place they'd never been before," says Chel White, the spot's director. "They were animating to a live face that already existed. It added four steps onto what would normally be straight stop motion."

To humanize the maiden (named Ana in the Spanish version and Calista in the English version), White filmed the face of an actress, manipulated her features to look more doll-like and tracked her expressions onto the head of a 14-inch tall puppet. The process turned out to be time-consuming because he had to ensure in advance that the real actress' perspective would match the doll's movements. The actress was filmed dead on, requiring her to be most expressive with her mouth and eyes.

While it took several attempts to match the real face with the puppet's movements, Bent's team eventually succeeded in giving the character a sexy, soulful dimension that would not have been possible with a traditional, stop-motion face. White was satisfied the ad's daring content would be enhanced by a new animation technique. "The script was one of the best I'd ever read for a commercial," he says. "It was also really taking some chances you don't get to do in the States."

For example, in a playful depiction of bestial arousal, a deer's antlers shoot up in the air like an erection and a cuddly teddy bear's eyes bug out of his head. On the soundtrack, a chorus sings, "Now the cute forest creatures/ Have nasty thoughts in their heads/ They all want Calista to get in their beds!" As the newly empowered Calista struts through her quaint, Swiss-style mountain village, a once typical-looking garden gnome is spotted sporting a leather jock-strap.

"We were surprised at how far (the agency) wanted to push it," White continues. "At one point they had a line in which the teddy bear says, 'With an ass like that, I'd let her shit in my house'." That observation was, of course, nixed. The agency also killed a Bent idea to digitally fuzz out the teddy bear's crotch. There was never a question the spot would be provocative, but Bent and Santo didn't always see eye to eye on how suggestive the innuendos could get.

"At the time, I felt there was a little bit of a struggle," says White. "I wanted to make sure she was depicted as someone who was powerful and sure of herself. Obviously the spot is using sex to sell soap, but it's taking it to an absurd extreme. There's such a fine line between sexy and sexist and being a northern, liberal male, sometimes the radar goes up. I wanted to ensure her power was always there - that the catcalls would never become bigger than her."

If the spot aired in the US, White speculates it would elicit angry phone calls from prudish Midwestern viewers. After Lux Provocateur was posted on the blog Motionographer, one commenter wasted little time denouncing its overt sexuality: "So if you wanna be a slut you're supposed to buy this soap or did I get something wrong?" a blogger named Jonas wrote. "I hate this stereotypical, sex-focused crap. Maybe I'm old-fashioned but I'd rather stay that way."

Minces boils the varied reactions down to differing cultural norms. "In Latin America, this kind of sexuality is well-received, but it's also jarring," he says. "We wanted to do something that really gets your attention without being rebellious."

Fortunately for any potential irate Midwestern viewers, the ad is only running on Ecuadorian and Colombian television. Lux isn't planning to sell the black-colored Provocateur soap in North America, so Americans will have to make do with other products to catalyze any spontaneous slouches towards slutdom.

Bent Image Lab www.bentimagelab.com
Santo www.santobuenosaires.com