Another Viral Virus

So, here is yet another viral commercial that is being heralded as "amazing," "progressive,'' "inspiring," etc. etc. etc.
The Pantene Philipines commercial, released in early November, has people all over the internet abuzz.

If taken at face value, the ad is fine, but I have a few problems with it. The message that one is expected to get from the commercial goes something like this: Hmm, that lady is getting different treatment from people than her husband does for doing the same things. That's not really fair. This is an example of how many women are treated in the workplace. That's not a good thing. Pantene is great for exposing this fact. I want to buy Pantene.
But let me share with you what I thought: Hmm, there's definitely some truth to the message, but it's old news. The fact that women are treated differently than men (particularly in the workplace) is pretty widely known at this point in time. Also, what the heck does this have to do with shampoo?
Well, the company attempts to make the transitional leap by saying at the end of the ad: Don't let labels hold you back. Be strong and shine. #Whipit. So, um, if I want to be a strong and confident woman in my workplace, I should use Pantene to make my personality and my hair shine? The fact that women's hair should be shiny (or anything at all except the natural way the woman wants it) is exactly what feminists fight against. Anyone who has studied feminism or women and gender studies knows that women should not aim to be anything other than what they want to be. Not what is expected of them by other people, and certainly not by some corporation who has for years leading up to this commercial only ever made ads that perpetuate the idea of gender inequality and the sexualization of women. In almost all of their previous commercials, they have used celebrities or beautiful models who swoosh their long, impossibly straight and shiny hair around for the camera to make girls envious enough or desirous enough to buy their product. Not to mention the fact that the woman in this commercial is a gorgeous model type who of course is going to have tons of confidence, long, straight, shiny hair, live in a city where there are no other people around and is always sunny and warm, and has a 5,000 dollar a month apartment with a corporate job. The opening scene shows the actress wearing 700$ Christian Louboutin shoes for God's sake! What about the young girls who are living in real life? In the ghettos of that city, whose hair will never look like that, and who will certainly face more challenges in life than what people think of them as they parade around in designer clothes and run board room meetings?
The sad truth here is that the women in real life who are that wealthy and stylish are not buying Pantene. Pantene is a lower to middle class brand. That woman is using a 30$ to 50$ per bottle brand and a blowdrier/straightener every morning. And do you know why she does her hair every morning and spends that much on hair product? She does it to look like the girls in the Pantene commercials.
So, congratulations, Pantene, for making a commercial with a message that feminists have already proved and talked about for years, and for making girls want to have 'perfect' hair even more now because this commercial shows them that not only will they then have pretty hair, they will also have a corporate job, a stunning apartment, and a hot boyfriend.
It is this idealized version of life so rampant in advertising that causes so much unhappiness and the constant feeling of incompleteness in people. The consumer is constantly plagued with unfulfilled desire because commercials show you a world that you want, but will never, ever have.

To change gears a bit, I do commend them for using a race other than caucasian for once. I appreciate the fact that the woman is of Asian descent. The advertising industry has done a good job of incorporating black and hispanic actors into commercials lately, but there are not nearly enough commercials that feature Asian American actors yet.

An example of a large corporation that actually does deserve some credit for their work on breaking down the beauty and gender walls is Dove. Here is the last commercial/video they made that went viral, and for good reason.

Dove is different from Pantene, though, because Dove has been making campaigns like the one shown above for years now. It's their 'schtick' if you will. Pantene is just suddenly interested in marketing with 'pseudo feminism' as I like to call it, in order to sell more products because the classic formula might not be working so well lately.
To throw in another hair product brand, let me mention Garnier Fructis. They seem to be the farthest from updating their marketing strategy. The brand is adamantly clutching to their commercial formula. It is fitting that last night during the Victoria's Secret fashion show, the most frequently played commercial was one by Garnier. The two brands hold strong to the idea that skinny, 5 foot 10 models with straight hair are the only type of beautiful women in this world. Garnier shamelessly uses all models in their commercials, and promotes the idea that if you use their product, you will lead a fabulous life of parties on the beach (often in cars) with other hot models. And all the while, your hair will remain pin straight, shiny, and, let's be honest, probably any color but black.