Pantene and Grey Indonesia tackle ‘looks attractive’ as a job hiring requirement commonly found in local job advertisements
In their new social experiment film, Pantene uncovers hair stereotyping surrounding “berpenampilan menarik” (looks attractive) and its impact on a young woman’s success.
Launched in graduation month, Pantene’s new film is tackling “berpenampilan menarik” or looks attractive as a job hiring requirement commonly found in job advertisements in Indonesia. Those two words are not only vague in meaning but also surrounded by personal bias and society’s preconceptions about beauty. With half a million female graduates every year, “berpenampilan menarik” has a potential to affect them, particularly at this stage of life where independence, success and passions are suddenly more important than ever. So, does that really mean that young women need to look a certain way to achieve great things in life? With a focus on hair, Pantene conducted a social experiment to see how this problem manifests as part of its new campaign in Indonesia, #RambutTanpaBatas (Limitless Hair).
Pantene’s Interview Kerja yang Terberat (The toughest job interview) is the real deal, a real interview, a real job at hand, real candidates. Millennial women are brought into a room, where they are asked to step forward at the call of usual job requirements by a moderator. When it finally came down to “berpenampilan menarik”, there are expressions of hesitance, confusion and even bewilderment – suggesting the notion of “berpenampilan menarik” as being out of place. Nevertheless, we see a handful step into the final line in front of them.
The experiment then develops into a discussion about this requirement, and these young women begin confessing their encounters with criticisms and stereotypical comments about their hair, particularly when it differs from the norm of long, straight, black hair. We also see how it has affected how they perceive themselves and their potential to succeed in life. This film then documents that no matter your hair, everyone deserves a chance to succeed and live life with no limits.
Mallika Tyagi Associate Brand Director, Pantene APAC Enterprise Markets, says “Pantene’s mission is that every woman should have a great hair day every day. And we recognize that there is no one definition of great hair, and every woman has a right to choose how to wear her hair. We strive to make our mission locally relevant as well, and Berpenampilan Menarik was an interesting angle to look at and start a conversation around how this criteria can evolve with the times.”
I-van Policarpo Regional Creative Director, Pantene SEA says “Rambut Tanpa Batas (Limitless Hair) is our new campaign for Pantene Indonesia. Through a journalistic eye, we put a spotlight on Berpenampilan Menarik (Looks Attractive), a job requirement potentially tainted with bias that imposes a limit to women who choose to express themselves unconventionally through their hair. In doing so, we are hoping to change the way the said job requirement is defined: more inclusive, more empowering for young women reaching for their dreams.”
Credits –
Chief Executive Officer: Raju Alluri
Regional Creative Director, SEA: I-van Policarpo
Associate Creative Director: Elson Effendy
Regional Senior Producer: Aida Ghazali
Regional Account Director: Pritika Gupta
Sr. Account Executive: Khansa Nadhira
Copywriter: Cemara Dinda
Creative Support: Joza Bayu, Patrick Miciano, Irvine Priscilla
GREY Regional & Global Team:
Global Creative Lead: Javier Bonilla
EVP, P&G – AMEA: Yash Samat
WPP P&G Haircare SEA: Brenda Chung
MediaCom: Ann Margareth Tee, Eloise sim, Gilad Kat
Film Director: Rudy Satria
Post Production: Colour Post
Audio Production: Stereogenic
3 Comments
Too fake. How will this make you wanna buy a shampoo?
It’s a social experiment, with people who don’t know what they are in for, but everyone miraculously knows that they need to talk about hair.
We know how this one started: “Give us our own Dove Sketches”