On May 12, Garnier posted a grid mockup on Instagram featuring imagery of a moose and the caption “moose_campaign_v4.” Over the following days, the 122-year-old mass beauty brand unveiled a campaign starring former “Love Island” contestant TJ Palma, who, in the campaign’s fictional narrative universe, had been hired as Garnier’s social media manager to promote its newly repackaged Fructis Curl Mousse — only to misunderstand the assignment and build a campaign around an actual moose. “Rather than over-architect, we really wanted to lean into social conversation and really have some fun with the community — and sometimes, that’s as silly as a play on words,” said Philip Tabak, avp of U.S. marketing and business operations for Garnier. When asked about the development of the campaign, Tabak said, “We were discussing if a moose was loose in New York, what would that mean? What would social conversation be if people really thought there was a moose loose in New York City?” In the campaign’s hero video, brand employees enact a scene in which a marketing manager initially believes Garnier’s Instagram account has been hacked, only to discover that Palma misunderstood the assignment to create a “mousse campaign” as a directive to create a “moose campaign.” The bit continued in a collaborative post with @subwaycreatures (2.9 million Instagram followers), which features said moose — dressed in a Garnier jacket — riding the subway. In a later post, Palma finally admits his mistake, opening the video by saying, “Apparently, it’s mousse,” before launching into…
