Smirnoff and Albino DJ Declare ‘We’re Open’

Black or white, gay or straight, rich or poor, we all like to dance and get totally bladdered on vodka every now and then. This inclusiveness is celebrated in another vid from the continuing campaign We’re Open by Smirnoff ad. This instalment of the inclusivity focused series featuring Jeffrey Jewell, a Congolese-French albino DJ.

Directed by Zachary Heinzerling of Epoch Films for 72andSunny, the ad follows the DJ as he plays gigs in South Africa. An imposing figure with a giant white afro, Jewell is also narrator of the film, detailing in voiceover how he “always wanted to play in Africa. Make people dance. But having albinism, it can be dangerous in some parts of Africa. But when people stare at me, I just smile.”

Speaking of his new ad star Smirnoff’s global brand director Vince Hudson noted that, ‘it’s a real privilege to be able to work with such an open-hearted deejay as Jeffrey Jewell whose music is so greatly influenced by a region that has challenged him, and in some extreme cases would persecute him.’

Launching in the UK today, the commercial will roll out across Africa and parts of Europe, Latin America and Asia, with the aim of bringing together through music. This has been the unifying concept behind this campaign, which also included videos featuring a deaf dance teacher, as well as one featuring hip hop star and Iranian refugee Nadia Tehran.

Other previous We’re Open spots, part of a £4.5 million campaign beginning in May 2015, feature members of the LGBT community, with Smirnoff realising the power of inclusiveness after it because the de facto vodka brand of many gay bars following a boycott of Russian vodkas.