About
Mais ça, c’était avant is a catchphrase used by Krys, a chain of French opticians, as part of its advertising campaign. This sentence became widely used on the Internet as well as in other media, and inspired many parodies of the original campaign.
Origin
Krys is one of the main networks of opticians and eyeglasses retailers in France. In 2009, the company launched an advertising campaign on TV, in order to change its brand image.
This campaign, created by the advertising company Agence H, is based on the sentence: Avant, j’avais/j’étais X – Mais ça c’était avant (which could be translated as: I used to have/be X – But that was before). It shows random people, who used to have a complex about some of their physical features, but who forget about their lack of self-confidence once they wear glasses. This logic is completed by a second catchphrase: Krys – Vous allez vous aimer (Krys – You are going to like yourself).
(I used to be ugly, but that was before.)
Soon after, the TV campaign was extended by a printed campaign, and, in 2011, by a new TV and print campaign, featuring celebrities.
Spread
On the Internet
In December 2011, a montage showing a dog wearing sunglasses, with a spoof of Krys’s catchphrase, appeared on the pet-themed website Wamiz.com[1]. Then, in January 2012, Blogger user ArtVintageGallery uploaded, in a blog article about lipsticks, a picture with the Krys logo and the text “My lipstick used to flow – but that was before”[2].
However, most parodies of the Krys ads didn’t appear until mid-winter 2012. The presidential election in France encouraged the creation of some of the parodies of the Krys ads, mocking Nicolas Sarkozy after his defeat (“I used to be the president – But that was before”)[3].
A single-purpose Tumblr, named “Avant j’étais chez Krys” (I used to be a Krys customer), was created on January 27th, 2012. It collects, as of January 2015, 18 parodies[4].
An other single-purpose blog, named “Mais Ça C’était Avant”, was created in February 2012 on the Over-Blog platform. It contains, as of January 2015, 57 parodies created by the blog’s editor[5].
On YouTube, gospel singer Jerry Tabary uploaded several short video parodies[6]. On Facebook, pages named “Avant j’étais le président”[7] and “Avant j’étais blonde”[8] can be found.
In other media
The French satiric puppet show Les Guignols de l’Info created several parodies of the Krys commercials, targeting the president François Hollande[9], his government, or Swedish soccer player Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Also, news outlets like to use the expression “mais ça c’était avant” on sport-themed, politics-themed, or light-hearted articles.
Notable examples
None uploaded yet.
External references
[1]pub lunettes Wamiz December 17, 2011
[2]Avant mon RAL filait mais ça c’était avant January 5, 2012
[4]avantjetaischezkrys.tumblr.com
[5]maiscacetaitavant.over-blog.fr
[6]C’ÉTAIT AVANT on Jerry Tabary’s Youtube channel
[7]Avant j’étais président, mais ça c’était avant on Facebook
[8]Avant j’étais blonde. Mais ça, c’était avant on Facebook
[9]La Crise, vous n’allez pas aimer (Les Guignols de l’Info) on YouTube