Harvey Nichols uses CCTV footage of customers shoplifting in latest campaign

Harvey Nichols has taken an unusual approach to advertising its new reward scheme: releasing CCTV footage of shoplifters in action across its outlets.

Known for its tongue-in-cheek campaigns, the latest offering from the luxury department store carries the tag line “Love freebies? Get them legally” – the message being that downloading the Rewards by Harvey Nichols app is a much better way to blag a freebie, than thieving stock directly from shop rails.

The 100-second video, created by adam&eveDDB (the firm behind John Lewis’ Christmas campaigns), features a montage of real life shoppers caught in the act. Humorously, and to protect their identity, faces of the guilty are obscured by cartoons as they are reprimanded by security, wrestled to the ground and put in a holding room.

The footage is supported by a series of black and white images, shot by Marcelo Krasilcic.

Shadi Halliwell, group creative and marketing director of Harvey Nichols, said: “We wanted to create a campaign which plays on the universal truth that everybody loves a freebie. By downloading Rewards by Harvey Nichols, our customers are sure to be spoilt, the legal way, with fabulously stylish treats.”

Rebekah Absalom