shampoo ad implies men shouldn't have long hair

[HylianGirl]

Ok, so there's shampoo commercial that has been causing some discussions where I come from. It is an ad for a shampoo for men, and it implies that long silky shiny hair is for women only. Here's the ad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP4sYiqb244

It is in portuguese, so I'll just put here what they say. A guy goes talk to his friend at the office and notices that his friend has long hair that swings in slow motion. He then asks if his friend did anything to his hair because it looks different and then says "it must be your shampoo". His friend then remembers he used a shampoo for women and runs to the store to get a shampoo for men in order to get rid of the "women hair". After using said shampoo for men he gets his short hair back. Then the narrator says: "Womens shampoo weren't made for you"

Although I have to say that the slow motion hair swooshes were really funny, I think that the idea of shampoo for men and women being a little stupid, I mean, it's all hair! Some people here in my country accused the ad of being sexist, since it pretty much sets the idea that women have long hair and men have short hair, and men with that use "ladies" shampoo are not "real men". It's a shame, I love long hair on men ^-^

What you guys think? It's just an overreaction to an ad, or maybe it really does imply that? I'm surious to what you have to say ^-^

[Kyla]

Oh, I saw that. I had the same reaction- anything that makes fun of the shampoo commercial swish is funny, but the commercial was pretty sexist. I don't think you are overreacting- the ad almost explicitly says that at the end, men should not use women's shampoo and thus have "women's hair."

[EdG]

Well, that's one product that I'll never buy. :lol:

I would avoid any shampoo marketed for men. That tells me it is intended for hair that has to last only a month or two. shudder:
Ed

[faellen]

Doesn't bother me, I see it as humorous

[Nedertane]

Oh God, so lame. It's like in yogurt commercials in the US where apparently only women only have the goddess-wisdom to eat and enjoy yogurt. I admit though, I did laugh at some of the slow-mo parts. :3

[MaryMarx]

It IS fun, but stupid, yes.
And I wish all men would use women's shampoo...

[Fethenwen]

Ooookey, so yeah. That shampoo will make your hair fall out and make it shorter, what a great marketing strategy, lol.

Yeah, I think it was rather sexist too.

[Suze2012]

It is a bit sexist...but the hair swooshing made me laugh so much!

The actual product though is Dove...so actually it may not be such a bad product?

it is geared towards men with shorter hair though I think..but could actually show men who do have longer hair that their hair might improve if they use shampoo marketed for women? just a thought...

Many men i know use their body wash as shampoo...Dove for men is probably better than that.

The nicest head of hair I ever saw on a guy was hip length, blonde and in fairly good condition considering..he used Timotei.

[didrash]

I suppose it is sexist, but I find it very funny, it really makes fun of most other shampoo commercials.

[Sarahlabyrinth]

I thought it was pretty funny myself!

[gnome82]

Yes it is sexist but I think the target audience is sexist men, I think its hilarious.

[TheHowlingWolf]

If that commercial was in English I don't think it'd be as funny to me but I did find the slow mo hair funny...however, I am SOOOOOO annoyed with this whole "Oh if you're a woman then you have to like pink and smell like fruit and flowers and be clean and perfect and "feminine" & if you're a man, then STAY AWAY FROM WOMEN'S STUFF BECAUSE YOU ARE A MANLY MAN!!!!!! BEER! FOOTBALL! SHORT HAIR! BLUE! GRAY!" It's like, shut up lol. Was it funny? Yeah. But tbh I think he looked better with long hair anyway!

[ghost]

*gasp* Sir Psycho uses my shampoo all the time, maybe that's really the secret of his long hair!
I'm actually really pleased that he used mine instead of some crappy 2-in-1 kind of thing that you can only get away with if your hair is an inch long.

I thought the commercial was pretty silly, and I wish my ~*lady*~ shampoo actually did make hair grow longer :p

[RavenBaby]

I think it's ridiculous and just a joke,the viewers aren't stupid enough to think that there's shampoos for men and shampoos for women and that there's a difference between the shampoos. It is sexist but I'm hoping the ad is supposed to be a huge tongue in cheek joke, if it's not a complete joke then I'm kind of angry at the gender stereotypes which this ad is implying and perpetuating. Maybe it's catering to the small percentage of guys that are so insecure about their masculinity that they can't buy a "girly" thing like a shampoo unless it's targeted at men. Really stupid if you ask me.

[HairFaerie]

Hahahahahaha! I thought it was hilarious! :)

[lapushka]

Too lame to even get upset about, IMO.

[panffle]

Honestly, what I got from this commercial was: he was using the 'wrong' shampoo (targeted towards a female audience) and therefore his hair looked like the women in shampoo commercials... While taking a shower and using the 'wrong' shampoo, his hair was still short... Then it was long like a woman's in such ads. After he used the 'right' shampoo, his hair went back to normal - short, as it was before.
It's funny and if you think too much you can miss the point.

[Celtic Morla]

I think it was pretty hilarious! I don't fall for BS advertising and I think it was hilarious to imply a man could be so emasculated by a little blod of fragrant shampoo...

[whylime13]

I'm not a fan of the commercial overall, it pushes my buttons by implying that being compared to a woman is a negative thing a man. I guess that's one angle to take if you're trying to sell special shampoo for men and you have to make it seem like men's hair is really different from women's hair.

It's like the flip side of the coin from this old herbal essences commercial which is awesome! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIs7OJ9FfGE

[whylime13]

double post sorry!

[leslissocool]

I suppose it is sexist, but I find it very funny, it really makes fun of most other shampoo commercials.

This pretty much. It was funny, those slow parts were hilarious. But it is sexist IMO. My whole house use shampoos and conditioners that are the same (trader joes, I use the shampoo in my kid's bath time I LOOOVE the smell).


If that commercial was in English I don't think it'd be as funny to me but I did find the slow mo hair funny...however, I am SOOOOOO annoyed with this whole "Oh if you're a woman then you have to like pink and smell like fruit and flowers and be clean and perfect and "feminine" & if you're a man, then STAY AWAY FROM WOMEN'S STUFF BECAUSE YOU ARE A MANLY MAN!!!!!! BEER! FOOTBALL! SHORT HAIR! BLUE! GRAY!" It's like, shut up lol. Was it funny? Yeah. But tbh I think he looked better with long hair anyway!

You reminded me of this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUjh4DE8FZA

[Allychan]

I thought it was funny, BUT what was the message? Because what I read into it was...if-you-use-this-shampoo-your-hair-will-look-like-the-hair-models-in-a-shampoo_ad,-but-if-you-are-a-guy-don't-use-it-because-you-will-have-great-hair, so therefore the conclusion would be don't use this shampoo if you are a guy because it will give you great hair??? I am seriously confused by their marketing dept?? :confused: So they have effectively told me NOT to buy their product

[Kaelee]

Incredibly sexist but really, really funny. :lol:

I find the whole idea of "mens" products to be kind of weird, in some regards. It's like people believe that if your shampoo/soap/lotion doesn't say "for men" on the bottle, your sexuality and gender identity is suddenly in question. :lol: (unless it's something like shave gel where there is a good reason for the gender difference).

[LadyCelestina]

That's dumb,but Dove commercials are well known for being dumb,so it's no surprise.

[juliaxena]

It says women are brainless swishy creatures and men are supposed to be...I don't even know what. Pouring acid on their hair.

[WaitingSoLong]

Some of the thread responses are rather funny! Since I only understand English, the commercial was quite funny.


Well, that's one product that I'll never buy. :lol:

I would avoid any shampoo marketed for men. That tells me it is intended for hair that has to last only a month or two. shudder:
Ed

I buy my son men's shampoo because of the FRAGRANCE. Honestly, I thought that was the only real difference. My son does not wish to smell floral or fruity. Around here we are limited on choices for men's shampoo unless I want to drop bug bucks at a salon. There are a few "neutral" fragrances but they are too strong scented. Actually, most shampoo is overly fragranced!

I had forgotten about Herbal Essence. I definitely love their fragrances but in the end it is about hair health/manageability and Pantene wins every time for my hair. I don't care much for the fragrance but it is not offensive. Just not my preference.

And I don't see what is wrong with having different products geared for the different sexes. We ARE different, our body chemistries are different and while there are exceptions, the mainstream of women wish to be feminine to some degree and men/masculine. :shrug: What's the big deal? Is ti because the other-gendered are getting left out of marketing? Marketing is just a game anyway and has always been highly sexist and even demoralizing for women yet it has never bothered me.

[Lunadriael]

It says women are brainless swishy creatures and men are supposed to be...I don't even know what. Pouring acid on their hair.


This comment made me laugh so much. That's what you get from ridiculous advertising. I would hope by now that people have enough of an education to see it for what it is... Or maybe it's just satire. ^^ I wouldn't be too impressed with my marketing team if they'd made that though, especially as most Dove products are intended for women and you could risk offending your main consumers.

[Long_hair_bear]

Men definitely should have long hair!

[Suze2012]

It's like the flip side of the coin from this old herbal essences commercial which is awesome! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIs7OJ9FfGE


This made me laugh too...it's fun!

Reminds me of the guy I knew who used Timotei on his hip length hair..he used to do that Timotei Swish...leaning forward and flipping it front to back...he was hilarious when talking about his hair and would always go into 'swish' mode.:)

[humble_knight]

I found it highly amusing!

See what you think of this advert for Old Spice :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcJwWz7zTjM

[HairFaerie]

Hahahaha! That Fabio Old Spice commercial is out of control! But very funny!

I think a lot of shampoos are very "feminine" scented. There's nothing wrong with making a shampoo more "manly" scented. I really didn't find the OP's commercial sexist at all. I found it more of them making fun of other shampoo commercials.

[DarkCurls]

Hm, I thought it was funny. It's a commercial, and most men don't aim for that "swishy" hair, whereas many women actually do. Most ads are going to generalise; they need to. Target audience and all that. I don't feel the ad implies that either gender is inferior to the other, so I don't feel offended by it.

If anything, I find the real, female-geared swishy-hair commercials more annoying than this one.

[sisi33]

I get why some people would get annoyed with the original video- but I just think it's hysterical. And the subsequent vids are killing me! :rollin: Too funny

[Amygirl8]

All the women in that commercial were clearly jealous.
I would be too, if I didn't know that was a wig lol

I do find it sexist in a way, but it was a little funny as well. It also does send a mixed message- women's hair or not shiny and soft hair is a desirable attribute for both sexes. If you can achieve that by using women's shampoo, go right ahead.

[Ravenwind]

I kinda got the impression that the shampoo he was using was a feminine shampoo and making his hair more feminine, like the smell and stuff. You just never see men with hair like women have lol

[Dorothy]

I think companies will do anything to get you to buy stuff. Lots of ads to get women to buy stuff suggest we are fat, smell bad, have the wrong kind of hair, and these ads are trying to trigger the feeling of inadequacy needed to get you to buy the product. This particular ad focuses on the fact that in this mean old patriachal world, men feel bad when someone suggests they are anything like women. Buy this shampoo or you will be like a woman. That will light a fire under a dude's behind, all right, and get him out to the store to buy man shampoo, because the worst thing a man can be is like a woman. It's a nice encapsulation of how sexism and capitalism can be such good friends. And it's funny because the slow motion hair shows the man caught, stuck being like a woman, tangled in his girlyman tresses, so we have schadenfreude (enjoyment of the misery of others) at this poor dude who bought women shampoo.

[Yozhik]

It says women are brainless swishy creatures and men are supposed to be...I don't even know what. Pouring acid on their hair.
:thumbsup:


I think companies will do anything to get you to buy stuff. Lots of ads to get women to buy stuff suggest we are fat, smell bad, have the wrong kind of hair, and these ads are trying to trigger the feeling of inadequacy needed to get you to buy the product. This particular ad focuses on the fact that in this mean old patriachal world, men feel bad when someone suggests they are anything like women. Buy this shampoo or you will be like a woman. That will light a fire under a dude's behind, all right, and get him out to the store to buy man shampoo, because the worst thing a man can be is like a woman. It's a nice encapsulation of how sexism and capitalism can be such good friends. And it's funny because the slow motion hair shows the man caught, stuck being like a woman, tangled in his girlyman tresses, so we have schadenfreude (enjoyment of the misery of others) at this poor dude who bought women shampoo.

+1. Great, thoughtful, and well-argumented post, Dorothy.

I definitely agree that this ad (almost wrote "cad" - freudian slip?) is sexist and implies at its base level that there's something wrong with a man being compared to a woman.

Also, I personally really dislike overly floral shampoos - they smell way to chemically and artificial to me. :shrug:

[teal]

Like others, I get how it could be offensive. That said, I'm sitting here laughing at the videos, and also enjoying the fact that these companies went to the expense of making them when there's about a snowball's chance in hell of me purchasing the product based on the ad.

[akilina]

Its so corny and funny!!

I guess I am not easily offended. I don't see why anyone would care about the whole stink. Its just a stupid commercial. People shouldn't be so swayed by the media. If a man wants long hair there is nothing wrong with it. I don't see a lame commercial changing that. :s :confused:

[OakTreeGirl]

Although I don't agree with it, I see what their angle is. Some men are scared to pay attention to what they put in their hair, because they thing it makes them look girly. So advertising that appeals to their vanity would not go over well. This add instead addresses that insecurity and helps allay those fears. They're saying: "We know you don't like women's products, so we've got you something that is clearly very different."

I understand why they went that way. I'm still a little disappointed they had to go that route, though. Men with long hair are awesome and can be as manly as they choose.

[oktobergoud]

We had a sort of similar commercial here as well! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D_wIp3Fc54 it's in Dutch but you'll get the message, it's basically the same: stop using your girlfriend's shampoo, otherwise you'll get girly hair (?) and a girly drink?? o__O

[hafattack]

Haha! The first commercial is hilarious. I dont think it implies that men should only have ahort hair, its just a marketing manuever. Men that have long hair will continue to have long hair. It is just Dove opening their market up to men? Maybe? Though i did shudder imagining all his hair coming off in that towel, eek!
I also like that it was a play on typical shampoo commercials.. and he has gorgeous hair!

[jacqueline101]

Because most men have short hair I'm not being mean look around at the store. The sport hero has short hair.

[woolyleprechaun]

It made me laugh, but I suppose it is a tad sexist. It doesn't look like it was meant to be offensive.

[WilfredAllen]

I think it's hilarious ^.^ It pokes more fun at women's shampoo commercials than anything. It kinda like "okay, we know shampoo commercials/companies are kinda lame and over the top but we're different and down to earth." They sort of exaggerate their competitor's ads to make them seem more honest and relateable. The focus doesn't seem be that his hair became longer, it seems to be that it developed into this strange separate being with it's own personality that lived atop his head. Of course the its-the-social-norm-for-males-to-have-short hair presumption is there, but advertising made for mainstream sources almost always is designed to be relateable and appealing to the widest target audience possible.

Who knows what the creators were thinking when they made it though?

[RavenBaby]

It's not the commercial itself that is offensive or trying to offend anyone, it's the social implications of ads like this running on T.V that are awful.

[bradlea]

It's not the commercial itself that is offensive or trying to offend anyone, it's the social implications of ads like this running on T.V that are awful.

Exactly what I was thinking. People are okay with this commercial and think it's funny because, in western culture, we're totally okay with the idea of telling men that the worst thing they could be is like a woman. It might be okay for the majority who are accustomed to this kind of subtly sexist advertising, but there are men out there who are going to feel crappy because of it, whether they're transgendered or gay or just more feminine than the "average" male human. It won't necessarily be from this one commercial, but from the combined effort of all the advertisements they're seeing on a daily basis with the same message.
And considering that nearly everyone on LHC is a hair expert, we should all find it a little silly that they're pretending men need different shampoo than women do.

If you really sort out the reason for the humor, then you realize that it was "funny" because a man in a commercial was acting like a woman in a commercial, and naturally a male being feminine should make us all laugh. I didn't find it particularly amusing.

[Alun]

It IS fun, but stupid, yes.
And I wish all men would use women's shampoo...

Ummm ... what? You mean there's special shampoo for women? I only recently heard of "men's" shampoo, and wouldn't use it because I assume it's for short hair.

[Alun]

It's not the commercial itself that is offensive or trying to offend anyone, it's the social implications of ads like this running on T.V that are awful.

Agreed, because it would be so awful to be a woman! (being sarcastic)

[Syaoransbear]

Exactly what I was thinking. People are okay with this commercial and think it's funny because, in western culture, we're totally okay with the idea of telling men that the worst thing they could be is like a woman. It might be okay for the majority who are accustomed to this kind of subtly sexist advertising, but there are men out there who are going to feel crappy because of it, whether they're transgendered or gay or just more feminine than the "average" male human. It won't necessarily be from this one commercial, but from the combined effort of all the advertisements they're seeing on a daily basis with the same message.
And considering that nearly everyone on LHC is a hair expert, we should all find it a little silly that they're pretending men need different shampoo than women do.

If you really sort out the reason for the humor, then you realize that it was "funny" because a man in a commercial was acting like a woman in a commercial, and naturally a male being feminine should make us all laugh. I didn't find it particularly amusing.

I agree with this so much. It's something that people don't notice or realize is happening. I'm so tired of advertising and social norms that basically tell men AND women that being feminine or engaging in any typically female roles or routines is undesirable. It really feels like society hates women.

[humble_knight]

I agree with this so much. It's something that people don't notice or realize is happening. I'm so tired of advertising and social norms that basically tell men AND women that being feminine or engaging in any typically female roles or routines is undesirable. It really feels like society hates women.

Seriously? Women are the ones who have disposable income, so all those advertising peeps try and target them. How about the diet coke advert with the bare-chested Himbo drinking while a group of women perv at him?

As Waitingsolong said, it's hardly surprising that advertisements are aimed at the mainstream population. Maybe some company will try and make goods for the genderless market, if they think it's worthwhile financially.

[MaryMarx]

Ummm ... what? You mean there's special shampoo for women? I only recently heard of "men's" shampoo, and wouldn't use it because I assume it's for short hair.
Oh, it was meant in a kind of ironic way! Meaning I wish all men would have long hair.

[Celtic Morla]

This thread is a s amusing as the commerical! If commercials with "sexy hair moving slowly if its own volition" weren;t successful they wouldn't still be using the gendre! I thin the fact that Dove got creative an dhad fun with the whol thing is pretty good cause we are all TALKING about it, even if we don;t buy it someone will just to see what the fuss is all about!!

And then th ecompany can justify the commercial because it made them money!

[KwaveT]

I get tired of implications that men need different products to be considered manly. Shampoo is shampoo. It is just what kind of shampoo you want to use. They make hosiery for men. Hosiery is made exactly of same material as women's hosiery even though they add a fly opening to hose for men. That you need a men's body wash to be manly. Scents in most of these products don't last anyway. I use scented lotions, shampoos, and conditioners. Scent doesn't last long enough for anybody to notice. To me these companies are just marketing to men's insecurities.

[woolyleprechaun]

Seriously? Women are the ones who have disposable income, so all those advertising peeps try and target them. How about the diet coke advert with the bare-chested Himbo drinking while a group of women perv at him?

As Waitingsolong said, it's hardly surprising that advertisements are aimed at the mainstream population. Maybe some company will try and make goods for the genderless market, if they think it's worthwhile financially.
Don't knock the Himbo add ;) But seriously, everything is aimed at the mainstream. Pretty much everything advertised is wasted on me... but as you say, if they did aim it at the more...unusual it would be highly unlikely that it would be lucrative. A genderless market would be nice, but I doubt we would ever see that day. It wouldn't make a difference to me; I still wouldn't buy shampoo :P

[Mesmerise]

I thought it was funny personally ;). I see it as more tongue in cheek than sexist, really. I mean... I get what everyone is saying in that it seems to imply that men shouldn't have long hair, but to me it was more the "long, swishy, shampoo ad" hair, and short hair (the guy's "regular" hair) provided more of a contrast.

Honestly, I think different shampoo for men and women is a stupid idea...but I guess maybe it's about the smell more than anything else (a more "masculine" smell as opposed to a lighter, floral scent or something). Just like... men tend to prefer different deodorants or fragrances (because they are seen as more masculine than feminine).

I'm just waffling on a bit here, cause I don't really wear any fragrance and wash my hair with unscented stuff ;).

[Mesmerise]

Seriously? Women are the ones who have disposable income, so all those advertising peeps try and target them. How about the diet coke advert with the bare-chested Himbo drinking while a group of women perv at him?

As Waitingsolong said, it's hardly surprising that advertisements are aimed at the mainstream population. Maybe some company will try and make goods for the genderless market, if they think it's worthwhile financially.

I am puzzled by the line "women are the ones who have disposable income"... I thought it was generally accepted that overall, women earn less than their male counterparts ;). I would think, therefore, that men would be the ones with higher disposable income!

[woolyleprechaun]

I am puzzled by the line "women are the ones who have disposable income"... I thought it was generally accepted that overall, women earn less than their male counterparts ;). I would think, therefore, that men would be the ones with higher disposable income!
Very true... I think its more likely that ads are aimed at women as they purchase more stuff; not because they have more disposable income but because they just tend to be the larger consumer (lets face it, my husband has NEVER bought toiletries. When he was younger, his mom bought his stuff. Now he's older, his wife does ;)) I don't mean to generalise here, I'm sure there are exceptions to the rule,. I just know that, despite being in his mid 20s, my brother still wears trousers bought by his mum :P

[Angel Barchild]

I think it's funny but ymmv. As for men's shampoo, well my husband works in mens prison, the last thing he wants to smell like is my floral shampoo. Nothing wrong with wanting a more masculine smell.

[Latte Lady]

I suppose this could be considered sexist and that having male and female shampoo is sort of silly, I'm not really bothered by it. I look at it from my point of view. I don't care for the 'genderless' stuff. I'm a ultra girly-girl and want nothing to do with anything 'manly'. I, therefor, have no problems with men wanting 'manly' looking and smelling products. I rather enjoy the differences between the sexes. Genderless is boring to me. My sister likes it though. She is feminine but there is nothing fluffy about her!

[QMacrocarpa]

The slow-mo swishes did make me laugh, but I agree that the premise of the ad is ridiculous. Cosmetic advertising always tries to create an insecurity and then sell a product to solve a problem that didn't exist before the viewer saw the ad. ("Oh no, my hair must look girly because I don't use manly shampoo!"). It makes me quite cynical about the cosmetics industry, and I feel very resistant to the messages in their ads (though they may still affect me).

To pick another example which I as a frizzy gal notice all the time, ads consistently tell me that I should hate and suppress my frizz. But why should I? Just because company XYZ wants me to fatten their bottom line by stepping on a treadmill of ceaseless battle with my natural hair texture? I can't see it.

In general, we should be very cautious about the messages we absorb from cosmetic advertising.