She Doesn't Dare

Sometimes marketing totally annoys me. If you're surprised at that, you must not have read this post. (Or this one, this one, this one, or this one.)

And the latest commercial for Pantene shampoo is no exception.

I don't see many commercials any more unless they air during children's programming. I sometimes watch a little bit of TV while the kids nap, but it's always Jerry Springer (er, I mean, documentaries) and the commercials during that are always for lawyers or online universities. But last night I was flipping through the channels after the boys went to bed, when I caught this Pantene anti-breakage shampoo commercial featuring Eva Mendes.

Now, Eva Mendes is a glamorous actress and spokesmodel. A famous chick. We all know she be makin' some bank. So it irritated the ever-living piss out of me when I heard her say something along the lines of this:

"They dared me to try this shampoo."


Seriously, Eva Mendes? You want us to believe that we're seeing you onscreen, hawking the Pantene shampoo that you'd probably turn your nose up at actually buying, because they dared you to try it? What, did the Pantene peeps just contact you like, "Hey Eva, we've got a new shampoo, and we dare you to use it and then be on a commercial about it!"

That's the kind of stuff that happens to people like me, an underpaid blogger who gets emails like, "Please blog about how awesome our product is and include five pictures and ten links to our website. On your main page. And we'll give you THREE WHOLE DOLLARS!"

I don't go for that crap, and neither would Eva-freaking-Mendes.

Nothing else about the commercial stood out to me. Not the amazing anti-breakage properties of the shampoo. Not how glorious and thick and luscious her hair looked. But the fact that she was saying she was "dared" to use this product. I think I'd have been more inclined to buy it if she was like, "Hey, they paid me thousands of dollars to say how awesome this shampoo is! I wouldn't know, because nothing but salon products touch my gorgeous tresses, but it's only like five bucks so if you don't like it at least you didn't spend that much."

Maybe I should chalk it up to pregnancy hormones and general all-around irritability, but Eva Mendes saying she used the shampoo "on a dare" is like Bill Gates saying he has "a few dollars" or the Octomom saying "my methods of conception/boobs/lips are natural": a complete exaggeration.

I think I need a nap.