Pantene Pro-V: A Frizzy situation.

” La solucion intensiva para un liso definido y perfectamente disciplinado. Su formula con pro-vitaminas hidrata cada hebra de cabello, ayudadndo a evitar que peirda agua, se reseque y aparezca el frizz.”

I speak Spanish and I speak it well, damnit. But why is it that my once a week intense moisture hair treatment has the description and directions in Spanish? I’m in the shower, I don’t want to think hard about my conditioner, I just want my directions so I can follow them and be done with it. Now I have to sit here and think about what this tub of cream is telling me to do. I AM IN AMERICA! Why is this in Spanish?

When I bought my conditioner, I saw it was in Spanish and just for the sake of convenience, I looked for a bottle that was written in English. I was at CVS and not a single bottle was written in English. I was appalled. Not only was the once a week conditioner this way, but every single Pantene Pro-V product was written in Spanish. Had I just teleported back to Uruguay? Where am I? What’s going on? Ah! Alright, so it wasn’t that intense but still, I was slightly taken aback. What if I didn’t speak Spanish? I’d probably quit using Pantene in fear of using the wrong product at the wrong time. Did CVS think of that? Did Pantene? Who is behind this? They need to get fired.

By putting the wording in Spanish, a large portion of the market has been marginalized. English speaking consumers just switched to a new brand because their old favorite no longer speaks their language. According to Korzenny and Korzenny, marketing to Hispanics in Spanish is crucial because of the emotional effect (p93) and connotative value (p86). However, I feel that marketers should pick and choose the products they apply this theory to. A different amount of emotion goes into buying intense conditioner than buying; say a car or a home. When reading the quote from the bottle, one notices that most words are technical. Technicalities are not emotional- they’re technical. ” Translating technical materials is generally not advisable (Korzenny and Korzenny, p90). Looks like someone didn’t do their homework.

Further, the Whorf theory explains that “language determines the way people think, and that because of this determinism, members of different cultural groups would think and perceive the world relative to their language.” This highly controversial theory brings to mind the book 1984 by, George Orwell. Orwell wrote this book in 1945 describing the way he thought the world would be in 1984. According to his book, The Party (government) had taken over everything, burned books and enslaved the human race. Thought control was put into play by manipulating language. Words such as freedom and liberty were deleted from the language. If there was no word for it, how could anyone think about it or feel it? They got rid of the abstract concept by simply deleting the word that defines it. Going back to the bottle quote, one will notice the last word: frizz. How come that word is in English? If there is no word for it in Spanish does it mean Spanish speakers don’t get frizz? Can they not think about frizz because there is no word for it in Spanish? If that is so, then why would they buy a product made solely to battle frizz?

I think this whole Spanish vs. English situation is quite frizzy. If I am the target market (21 year-old, college educated, Hispanic-American female) and Pantene Pro-V is doing their job right, then I would have had nothing to write my paper about. This situation happens often. My mom doesn’t really speak English, so how does she go about buying the products she needs if they’re not written in Spanish? Obviously she doesn’t get offended if there is not a Spanish alternative but that is the world she is used to. She would probably get mad at me for my introductory paragraph. She would say I am being a snob for thinking that. Marketers have a big job on their hands figuring out this nation sized puzzle. Until then, I’ll squint, cringe, huff and puff while using my ESOL version of conditioner but hey, at least my hair will be moisturized. Right?

By Jovanna Gomez
Florida State University

Sources
1. Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective. Korzenny and Korzenny, 2005
2. 1984, George Orwell, 1945
3. Pantene Pro-V, Intense Conditioning Treatment.