Sun-Silk Consumer Ads

While both women and men care about their appearances, women seem to be more concerned about the way they look. Women seem more concerned because a huge number of beauty and personal products are marketed directly towards women specifically. The Sun-Silk hair care advertisements target women by exploiting hair flaws of women, then offering a solution by using their product. However, the Sun-Silk advertisements manipulate women into using their product by basically stating that there is a problem with the women. The Sun-Silk Shampoo commercial taps into the esteem of women in several ways. The setting of the commercial is in a busy, public, city setting. The voice of a loud, boisterous female narrates the commercial by insulting the hair of a variety of women. Insults include, "Honey, your hair is flatter than a training bra..." or "You have more split ends than a Vegas divorce court." While this voice is being heard, shots of frustrated women are shown as they frantically try to fix their hair while looking in a window reflection. Then after insulting these women, the voice offers a solution to their problem, the Sun-Silk Hair Care products. Then the women are shown as confident, almost glowing people, strutting down the street with fabulous hair. From The Girls of 3iYing, in the article "What A Girl Wants from Advertisers" issues of sensitivity and appearance are noted as being important to female consumers. Sun-Silk has dug into personal issues that women have with themselves, in order to sell a product. Basically it seems that in order to sell this product, the consumer must be put down to feel as though there is a problem with themselves.