Dr. Scholl's gets way too sexy for itself
Posted: Monday, July 21, 2008 4:30 PM by Allison Linn
Filed Under:
Beauty products, Clothing, Health care
Say the name Dr. Scholl’s and most people think of sensible shoes, somewhat embarrassing foot ailments and other not-so-sexy connotations. That’s a hard reputation to beat, but evoking table dancing may be taking things too far.
A recent ad for the foot comfort company shows model Yaya DaCosta, a contestant from "America’s Next Top Model," doing what appears to be some sort of sexy dance (although it may be the chicken dance gone awry) on something that looks like a cross between a desk and a stage.
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| Dr. Scholl’s |
After performing in bare feet, she jumps off -- and right into a pair of sky-high red heels, then breaks into the dance again. Apparently, this is an effort to show that using Dr. Scholl’s For Her makes dancing in towering heels more comfortable.
The ad is so wrong in so many ways that it’s hard to know where to begin. First of all, if this is a commercial aiming to tout how much more comfortable heels are thanks to Dr. Scholl’s products, why does it show a woman dancing barefoot for so much longer than it shows her dancing with the shoes on?
Second, why didn’t they bother to hire a woman who could actually dance well?
DaCosta is beautiful, but her moves are jerky and inconsistent. More to the point, she often looks strained and uncomfortable, although that may be because her movement is limited by those skin-tight leather pants. Still, we’re guessing the shoes get so little air time because she just couldn’t dance well in them.
The entire effect is unappealing, made worse by the fact that the whole concept -- dancing on a platform in bright red heels -- is more crass than cute.
We’re all for foot products that make walking, and dancing, in high heels more comfortable, but please spare us the table-dancing subtext.
Click here to watch the ad.
