Just For Men adverts have always been on the radar because of their lazy cro-Magnon concepts and appalling dubbing. In fact, the dubbing tends me to be so bad it leaves me to speculate as whether it’s deliberately bad – designed to leave a lasting ‘WTF?’ pinballing around your bonce.
The set-ups tend to follow a pattern: Man notices grey hair; man is told by wife or colleague that he will be more sexy, virile and generally cool with dark hair; man gets dark hair.
This one is different, and seems to feature something hitherto taboo in these kind of incredibly conservative memes: a single-parent family and a jobless lead.
All of this may appear rather brave, though it should be pointed out that it’s easy to infer that the guy in this ad is single and jobless because of his greying hair.
And, before we go lauding the company in question for its open-mindedness in featuring a single-parent family – has there ever been one of these ads featuring a black guy? Or a gay man? Possibly in the States, but in the UK? Just asking.
There’s a lot of fun to be had in this ad speculating as to just what kind of catastrophe has befallen this guy. Did his wife leave him because of his grey hair? Did she run off with a bald guy? And just what is up with this relationship, where a teenage child presents her father with hair dye and reassuring advice?
Troubling questions. I like to think he goes to the bathroom, tears out his stupid dyed hair and strings himself up from the shower rail with his tie. He didn’t get the job after all.