The answer to age discrimination is 'Just for Men'

[undeterred]

Really, that's all it is, just dye your hair. My Air America station has been playing ads that feature a man who didn't get the job after his last two interviews, but he did after he used the hair color 'Just for Men'.

So that's how you fight age discrimination, if you're a man, anyway. :sarcasm:

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. 'Just For Men' is for getting jobs now?

Remember the good old days, when it was just for getting women?

[undeterred]

2. I actually never paid attention to them

but that sounds right. They really should market it to both sexes and call it "Just for Job Interviews".

[tridim]

3. The Just For Men TV ads crack me up.

They're so cheesy

[Gwendolyn]

4. Clairol and all the rest of them run similar ads. What's the issue?

It's all about "sell the garment, sweetie," and far as I can see, they aren't promoting misleading advertising at all. People who look younger and more vibrantly alive will have a better chance at that job.

[undeterred]

5. The issue is AGE DISCRIMINATION.

Applicants should be considered on the basis of qualifications, not age. It may not be against the laws of love, but its against the law of the land to discriminate against someone because they are older than another equally qualified candidate.

[Gwendolyn]

16. Ummm... they work within market parameters. Just For Men didn't create the discrimination.

They list the benefit of their product, i.e. looking younger, as a way for people to get around that issue. Sounds like a solid ad campaign to me.

If it was a PSA then you'd have a beef. In fact, if you want to affect change then you could create one... a "Stay With the Gray" message to educate people to fight back against ageism.

[pnwmom]

19. They create the expectation, which adds to the problem. n/t

[Gwendolyn]

20. Which came first though?

Years ago, you had Just For Men commercials flogging the idea that if you color your hair, you'll get the woman. Now, during this time of economic uncertainty when people are fighting for jobs with everything they've got, JFM is flogging the job aspect to sell product. But age discrimination has always existed, regardless of whether or not JFM highlights the issue in their ads. Do you honestly think that in today's world, employers aren't focusing on age more than ever?

It isn't up to marketers to set moral code for society, is it? If so, we're truly lost.

[pnwmom]

21. The problem with all advertising like that

is that it feeds on people's insecurity -- and increases it. Same with many products -- for example, ads for acne products that increase the market by making teens feel miserable if they have a single pimple somewhere on their face.

The solution -- education. Starting at a young age, teach children how ads are meant to manipulate them. Give them a fighting chance.

[Gwendolyn]

23. Yep, that's the whole key.

Marketers are always going to sell the garment in any way they can. It's up to people to buy OUT of consumerism and teach their kids the same.

[undeterred]

24. Discrimination is illegal.

The way to respond to discrimination is to report it, not to color your hair. Can you think of another ad that acknowledges some kind of discrimination as something simply to be accepted - so that the answer is to try to "fool" the person who is doing the discrimination? Are there products to disguise one's race, sexual orientation, or handicap?

Everyone will experience age discrimination eventually. You just haven't got there yet.

[Gwendolyn]

25. Welcome to the world of women.

That JFM ad basically says if you color your hair you'll feel more confident knowing you look good and that + your skills will land you that job.

Most ads geared toward women feature the same crap. Looking good = boosts the ego = get what you want. Use enough products and in no time you'll be a wealthy, well-dressed, well-loved, young forever, willowy model/CEO with luxurious hair.

This one commercial is nothing compared to all the messages we get that contribute to age discrimination. It's much more pervasive. There have been maybe what, 2 or 3 teevee programs in decades which depict seniors in a good light? Golden Girls and the Angela Lansbury murder mystery show. Most others depict elderly people as nasty, grumpy, childish evil or demented. It may often be in humor, but still, the elderly are all crackpots somehow. Other commercials show elderly women in moo moos or some other outlandish Florida retiree garb, behaving like idiots. That's far more insulting. Either that, or you get the fear mongering ones where people are exhorted to buy this or that, because before you can say boo, you're going to be an immobile, wreck of a crone. Then there are the endless incontinence ads. Who wants to hire someone who apparently is going to pee in their pants while they're standing in front of 20 people, giving a presentation. THOSE are the culprits that contribute to discrimination. Not the look good = boost ego = get what you want ads.

[redqueen]

27. Thank you!

Welcome to the world of women... exactly.

[undeterred]

28. I've been in the 'world of women' for a very long time.

And if you take the time to read the OP, I was referring to a very specific radio commercial. The man says he had two interviews but no job offer- so he tried just for men, which made him look younger than his real age- and he got a job offer. He fooled the third interviewer! And they can't acknowledge they would have discriminated against him if they knew about his gray hair.

[Berry Cool]

26. Sure, but how are you going to prove it?

Ultimately, the burden of proof of age discrimination is on the person who feels they have been discriminated against. Many employers are not dumb and they will make sure they are able to come up with 100 ways they did not discriminate among candidates on the basis of age.

[imdjh]

6. I do him, if he weren't a fashion model and if I didn't think that models were automatically unsexy.

I don't know what it is, but I can see a good looking man, and if I find out he's a model, all interest stops. Same thing with actors. No zing.

Part of it is the waxing, but most of it is that I think that I associate vanity as being unmasculine.

[Sydnie]

7. While we're talking about it ....

why does Just For Men only take 10 minutes to apply to wash away gray hair, but womens products take much longer? Why can't this be Just for Gray Hair instead of being sex specific?

:rofl:

[undeterred]

8. Men like to go fast?

:shrug:

[katanalori]

9. correct

men cannot wait more than 10 minutes to get (it) off.

Disclaimer: I am not a sexist female; this is meant to be a joke, and is not meant to offend any men, especially those manly men who last for hours, with or without the little blue pill.

[Sydnie]

14. Now that, I say, that was funny!

I don't know why Foghorn Leghorn just took over my body for that response, but hey, it is what it is.

:)

[ejpoeta]

12. they have a ten minute woman's color.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

15. Men are just able finish faster than women.

At least that's what all the women I know say. :shrug:

[aquart]

10. Won't help.

When our paranoid Congress decided to protect us from illegal immigrants taking our jobs, they forced us all to present PROOF of identity AND AGE in order to get any legal job. They enshrined age discrimination with that stupidity.

[ejpoeta]

11. that's like the one on tv where the guy is sitting waiting for the interview

and they have the 'old' one with the gray hair and the 'young' one with dark hair.... then they put them together to have salt and pepper hair, and the guy says, 'now i look old enough to know what i am doing and young enough to still do it'... wtf is that!! bullshit!

[MADem]

13. Then, ya look like an old fool with dyed hair!!! Dye the beard, too!!! NT

[Gwendolyn]

17. And make sure the carpet matches the drapes! NT

[MADem]

22. Ha ha ha~~ Now that's a bit o'work, now, isn't it? nt

[Feron]

18. Dyed hair on men almost always looks awful and obvious.

The awful coloring would probably make his age stand out even more than going au natural. And especially if his facial hair doesn't match up with the hair on his head.

[redqueen]

29. IMO it looks equally awful and obvious on women.

But we're conditioned to expect women to wear a mask of youthfulness, so most don't see it the same way.