Pantene: One shampoo, five women

The brand’s promotional event at Cafe Flo gave women hopes of hair utopia.

KARACHI: An exclusive, low-key event at Cafe Flo unveiled the five faces of Pantene “from different walks of life” on September 29. The cafe that already reminds one of a picturesque, serene coffee shop located in the heart of  Pondicherry was decorated along the theme of a ‘small Christian wedding’ with umbrellas to provide shade and colours like peach, gold and beige fused in the overall decor of the restaurant. The promotional event was handled by PR agency Xenith. 

Consumer-product giant Procter and Gamble’s five brand ambassadors who vouched for the effectiveness of Pantene shampoo were fashion and beauty icon Aamina Sheikh, hair expert Meher Najeeb, career coach Asma Mustafa, editor Barza Talha and showbiz personality Ayesha Omar. The ladies were seated on a small stage and had their own experiences to share in which using Pantene saved their hair from the evils of chemicals and electronic hair appliances.

Omar stated that a “woman’s hair is her pride and joy” and Pantene seems to be the remedy to all hair problems these five budding media agents face in their daily lives. All five ladies, extremely apt in hospitality, had more or less similar slice-of-life stories to share with an audience mainly comprising of media personnel.

Mustafa, who started a career in television only recently, said that “Pantene gave me the confidence to loosen my signature bun and let my hair down on television. And before I knew it, I actually looked good on screen.” Najeeb, Mustafa and Talha, who were not as familiar to the audience as Sheikh and Omar told stories, to which an average Pakistani girl could easily connect to. The best thing about these three representatives was the enthusiasm and joviality they brought to the event which totally justified them as the endorsers of a brand, which was in need of bubbly and fresh faces.

Though the event seemed extremely exclusive and not-so-commercial on many levels, it still had a corporate flair to it, which could not be avoided.

Even though it is comprehensible why brands usually have attractive people as brand ambassadors, one can’t help wishing that the idealistic standards set by consumer-product giants come down to a more pedestrian level.

In 2004, Dove, a shampoo and soap brand by Unilever, came up with a ‘Real Beauty Campaign’ that empowered women by showing that sometimes “The absence of flaw in beauty is itself a flaw” (Havelock Ellis). Dove depicted wrinkled, 90-year-olds as well as stout women who despite not being physically attractive could have soft, healthy skin and hair.

Pantene’s brand manager, Faisal Waheed described Pantene as “a product that embodies women’s empowerment and confidence”, and while the stories told by the new faces of Pantene depicted the qualms of today’s quintessential Pakistani girl quite accurately, it might have been even more powerful and convincing if the brand ambassador’s were not necessarily attractive celebrities who consumers only see on television.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st,  2011.