I recently saw an ad on the TV for JustforMen hair colour. I can’t find it on Youtube so I’ll describe it. The ad shows a guy who is worried about not succeeding in a job interview so he dyes his hair with this anti-grey product and hey presto! he gets the job.
There’s an even more dreadful one that was being broadcast in the USA that features a guy who is unemployed but can’t afford to send his kid to college…until he dyes his hair and gets a job to pay the tuition fees!
If only…
Visit the company website and there is a page offering tips for a successful job interview. The tips are not unreasonable, although inevitably an oversimplification - “just do it” suggestions. Here’s the second tip:
According to the Just For Men Haircolour “Strategies for Job Success” survey, more than 77 percent of career consultants agree that in today’s economy, looking younger gives men a competitive edge in the job market and workplace. Don’t let gray hair limit your opportunities in getting your dream job. It’s one feature that easily can be changed, and Just For Men Haircolor is a great way for men to get rid of their gray with natural-looking results.
That survey sounds distinctly dodgy doesn’t it? I mean, you can imagine how the questions might have been asked can’t you?
I used to be an expert. Now the male grooming products people have taken my wisdom away. So I’ll be spending the next few weeks looking for a new career. But first I’d better dye my hair.
Contender for worst ad of 2009?
The makers of this advert have regressed to the days of marketing directly at people’s insecurities. Although it would be facetious to say that this type of marketing is dead, it’s certainly employed much more subliminally this century.
It surprises me that this advert has been allowed to run – so many ads are pulled by the ASA these days for promising misleading claims, with this advert blatantly stating that you have a better chance of securing a job if you dye your hair! I wonder why this one hasn’t been rapped over the knuckles yet?
If it turns out that the ad’s running because it’s factually true, then perhaps recruitment agencies should issue all of their candidates with hair dye prior to interview! Mind you, if they were promoting a cure for baldness, I’d lose the objective critiquing standpoint and be first in the queue – I guess playing on people’s insecurities is still a viable tactic after all!
IMHO a real problem here is that HR departments are often far behind the rest of business. Hair dye wont help.
Many HR people will have filtered you out long before the interview stage based on any indicator that a candidate doues not meet a narrow set of criteria. These won’t be specified in the job description but age, gender, gender preference, race and a whole bunch of other percieved negatives based on what they think line managers want will be infered from your application/cv and you just won’t get to the stage where they see your hair colour.
This obviously does not apply to all or even most HR depts but many seem to have little power within organisations so they are intimidated by unscrupulous line managers.
@ Callum The ad does seem to me pretty tacky, but how do you create aspirationl advertising without reflecting people’s insecurities about who or what they are now? Aspiration is the inverse of insecurity.
Yes,yes, I saw it too and it made my skin crawl. The Dad telling his little daughter that he’ll need more ties – because thanks to “JFM” he now has a job. The only problem is, we are talking about it and it will probably appeal to some who have tried all the other routes to success. On the upside, if it only goes to reenforce to people that appearance does matter at interview then fine, but there must be better and rather less toe curling ways to do so!
I’m rapidly receding to Callum’s position on this.
But, when promoting a product aimed at male grooming, can anyone think of any impressive example, or are we stuck with man gets girl, fast car or job?
In ‘non personal’ promotions the Meerkats are a stroke verging on genius, along with the roller skating Evian Babies.
But when it comes to male grooming, the best we’ve been able to find comes from Lynx.
Just to even this out (and being a token female so far):
I remember a story a few years ago about a guy who had his hair streaked grey.
He’d gone for several interviews with ad agencies in senior creative roles and believed he was being rejected because he looked too young. The grey gave him the gravitas he needed when he met the hirers in person.
Dunno whether it worked…