The California Milk Processor Board, the group responsible for the Got Milk? and Happy Cows ad campaigns, produced “Medusa,” a commercial about a princess whose “ugly hair” destroys her chances for love…until, of course, a man comes along who knows how to tame her hair, make her beautiful, and “conquer her love,” allowing her to finally get married:
I get that her hair is made up of snakes, but as a person with incredibly curly, unpredictable, shall we say boisterous hair, I can’t help but notice that the beauty ideal espoused here clearly calls for sleek, straight, controlled hair.
Sarah Haskins takes on the fairy tale trope in commercials aimed at women, including my favorite, a milk ad in which the princess’s PMS mood swings cause a tidal wave of her tears that threatens her entire realm:
Comments 35
BoneGirl — February 11, 2011
The first commercial is also interesting because many populations with "out-of-control" (anything other than straight) hair are the same populations that are lactose-intolerant (world map of lactose intolerance, with bunches of missing data, especially from the Middle East, here: http://s155239215.onlinehome.us/turkic/btn_GeographyMaps/WorldLactoseIntolerance.gif. I can't find a similar map for hair form, though).
Telling people who can't physically tolerate milk that it's a way to make their hair conform to the "norm" seems ill-advised.
Laura — February 11, 2011
It's interesting that the whole ad is in English and then at the end it says "Toma leche" in Spanish... I'm not sure what it means, but it's odd.
Steve — February 11, 2011
Heh ... If you thought that was bad, your head will explode after this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTZRGY-fDW0
Eneya — February 11, 2011
I laughed so hard when I sawed the first time. I thought it was a parody.
Then... someone told me it was real and serious.
Uly — February 11, 2011
Ironically, many women report that dairy makes physical PMS symptoms worse. (At least, many friends told me they had that problem after I bitched that I only ever want ice cream on my period and then I feel terrible.)
Julia P. — February 11, 2011
Oh, that upsets me. My five year old daughter saw this on my computer. I had to keep her from watching the end of the video. She LOVES Medusa, and I didn't want anyone telling her that the pretty snake-haired woman had 'ugly hair'.
Also, my hair is very curly, and no amount of milk has ever changed that.
April — February 11, 2011
Oh my god, those milk ads are so offensive. There's the obvious of course, but in terms of nutrition:
In regards to the first one: Protein is in almost everything you eat. Drinking milk is not going to change your hair like magic.
In regards to the second one: I have at least one friend whose PMS cramps improved significantly when she stopped eating dairy. And there's calcium in lots of other foods anyway.
m — February 11, 2011
I suppose this hardly needs pointing out, but the only reason she was unmarried? As in, overall looka, personality, intelligence, interests - none of it matters even a little if she doesn't have that straight hairdo?
azizi — February 11, 2011
I know that the woman in this ad is Medusa, but minus the snakes, that hair looks a lot like the multiple braids or dreadlocks that are the chosen hairstyles of some Black females & males. Consequently, I'm very concerned that some Black children may get the (hopefully unintended) message from this ad that their hair is ugly and in need of taming, and that only straight or straightened hair is beautiful.
Furthermore, drinking milk is not going to straighten anybody's hair, thank God!
azizi — February 11, 2011
As an aside, it's interesting how the different focuses that people have result in them focusing on different things in the same ad.
fog — February 11, 2011
Peculiar double-negative in that milk ad. That man with the milk won over the woman "without using neither force nor a sword."
new — February 12, 2011
I LOOOOVE this Target Women spot.. but wasn't this already featured on this blog? I thought that's where I first saw it? I guess I am mistaken.
Estella — February 12, 2011
The marketers obviously haven't met me. I can't stand the glorification/normalization of monarchy. I don't want to be a princess, I want to be free and equal to everyone else. I can't do that if I'm dominating other people (a traditional role of even the most powerless princesses) and/or living out my life as a passive ornament.
(Not that I'm complaining: I would hardly want to see an ad claiming that republican virtue can be fostered through the consumption of cream cheese/milk/deodorant...)
Anna — February 13, 2011
I love Sarah's commentary and wish we could see more positive portrayals of fairy tales.... as in, not like this one:
http://dumplingcart.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/chestnut-chicks-pigs-trolls-and-apes/
fernery — February 14, 2011
Right. I knew I should have married the first man who ever gave me milk. Wait! That was my dad, who raised six kids on his own. Thanks, milk industry, for making my dad seem creepy for the first time in my life.
myselfcorp — February 15, 2011
it's creative though..
Teenage dreams « Puppenhaus — March 12, 2011
[...] At the same time, you’ve probably heard that fairytales used to be awfully dark scary terrible things aimed at adults. This is kind of true. I think for the most part, based on what I’ve read, that it’s more specific – fairytales in the Western tradition were always aimed at women. Myths and histories (bigger lies, if you will) dealt with man-stuff. Lady-stuff, like death and birth and marriage, was dealt with through the set of folktales made famous by Perrault and subsequently interpreted and re-interpreted and used to market milk. [...]