Zales is officially calling out the biggest, most significant holiday cop-out gift of all time: the scented candle. In a playful new campaign created with Anomaly New York, the jeweler launches its “Not Another Candle” Collection — a curated lineup of jewellery picks meant to rescue shoppers from the land of vanilla-scented mediocrity. And leading the charge is Saturday Night Live and Father of the Bride star Chloe Fineman, whose deadpan charm gives the whole thing the perfect wink.
The premise: Every holiday season, people panic-buy. They grab whatever’s stacked at the endcap near checkout. And nothing screams “I didn’t think this through” quite like a candle. So Zales and Fineman decided to roast the ritual outright. Watch below:
Anomaly ECD Ida Gronblom adds, “We wanted to spotlight that familiar moment when holiday gifting becomes grabbing the same old candle. So we had fun with it. A meaningful gift doesn’t come from the clearance aisle — that’s where jewellery wins every time.”
“Chloe embodies confidence, creativity, and humor — exactly the spirit of today’s jewellery lover,” adds Lisa Laich, CMO at Signet. “She brings a fresh perspective and reminds people that gifting jewellery should be fun, meaningful and uniquely yours.”
In print, the visuals do the heavy lifting — rows of candles labeled:
• “Smells like it should have been jewelry.”
• “Smells like it’s not jewelry.”
• “Smells like a regift.”
Wrapped in bold holiday reds and purples, the imagery sets up the punchline: skip the candle aisle and buy something meaningful.
The activation follows Zales’ recent “It’s Decorating Season” campaign, which included a splashy digital placement tied to Taylor Swift’s album release page. It’s all part of the brand’s ongoing transformation under its “Own It” platform — modernizing its tone, visuals, in-store experience, cultural partnerships, and social presence.
Influencers are being sent present-wrapped boxes containing candles with the cheeky messaging, all pushing shoppers to ditch the fallback gifting strategy and upgrade to something that actually counts.
The Not Another Candle Collection is now live on Zales’ channels and across paid social, just in time to save the season’s serial last-minute shoppers from themselves.
CREDITS:
BRAND: Zales
AGENCY: Anomaly New York
Executive Creative Director: Ida Gronblom
PR: Krupp Group
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