When I first encountered this commercial I was truly
confused as to what the actual purpose of this advertisement was. In the beginning segment all that is
encountered is this vague “hairball” looking creature walking amongst a group
of people in an office setting, however, seven seconds later we encounter this
hair piece looking over its desk to see a clearly formed headless pair of
breasts in its field of vision.
Conveniently, as the two become aware of one another Daniel Johnson’s
“True Love” begins to play in the background.
The segments that follow are images of how these two items are
constantly being divided or prevented from “true love” by others. What is upsetting and sexist is how
contradictory the message of this commercial is, as the end of the commercial
states “'Hair. It's what girls see
first,'” but then what is it that he first sees? Well, of course, his field of vision notices
immediately his co-worker’s well-formed breasts, apparently the only thing that
matters on a woman. This downplaying of
the inappropriateness of defining a woman based upon her anatomical features or
better yet, noticing individuals for the vein appears is the message being
broadcasted. The young audiences,
particularly the teenage males, who will view this advertisement are led to
believe that the elements of attraction and “true love” are based solely upon
physical attractiveness, that what is on the outside is all that matters. Is this really the message that we want to be
perpetuating in a society that is now being burdened with single parents, a
growing number of divorces, and the exponentially growing number of teenage pregnancies?
Thank you for posting this commercial! I remember seeing it on TV and wanting to post it. Upon viewing it, I had many of the same questions you have asked here. The blatant sexism is obvious here, as only the woman's breasts are shown and it expresses that physical attraction is what prevails in true love. This is highly unrealistic and a cliff hanger is left as they finally get together and the commercial cuts out. Based on the statistics you listed and based on how unrealistic the commercial is, I would assume the relationship wouldn't last (if one begins). It goes to show how men dominate the media to their advantage. While men's hair can be conditioned to look "better", women are left to feel insecure about the size of their breasts.
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