I’ve been seeing some ads for Just for Men Touch of Gray on TV, and I am amazed that I haven’t read more negative reaction toward these ads from certain groups. I’m not a prude at all, and I understand that this is a ‘beauty product,’ but the execution of these ads border on endorsing sexism and age discrimination.
Here is one of the ads:
From the get-go, the male interviewee is being evaluated based on his perceived age. The seemingly ‘younger’ version of the interviewee with his brown hair is portrayed as having more energy but no experience despite being the same person. In fact he seems sort of like a doofus. And the gray-haired version is portrayed as having experience, yet no energy. He seems like he’s ready for the old-folks home. But magically, by fusing the brown and gray hair, the interviewee now possesses both positive traits, but no negative.
Basically, it seems that Just for Men is playing on the ageism that middle-age men who seeking employment fear. I don’t need to comment on how hard it is for some to find jobs right now, or how this stress may more profoundly affect middle-age men, but playing on those fears seems like a dirty approach to me. Instead of using the positive features and benefits of the product, Just for Men has decided to focus its advertising on the potential negatives of not using the product. This would maybe make sense if they are looking to retain customers (keep using our product or look at what could happen), but if they are looking to attract new customers, this seems fruitless. Why would someone want to start relying on a product that they could never stop using?
The other part that bothered me was the apparent sexual tension in the ad. It seems throughout the spot that the female interviewer is evaluating her sexual appetite for the interviewee rather than his qualifications for the job. If I was a woman, I would be offended at this spot as it suggests that a woman in a position of power is unable to separate her personal sexual desires from her professional responsibilities. If the genders were reversed and it was a male interviewer leering at a female interviewee, I think the outcry would have been loud.
Overall, I don’t really like these spots. I think they could have been done better, but to do so Just for Men needs to take a step back, look at their positioning and focus on the core benefits of their products. To see how it can be done well for a product like this, see this 1993 ad. It does a good job of discussing the product benefits and feature.
