"Music is a visible thing. Close your eyes. You will see."

February 20, 2011 9:57 PM

"You Can Shine" is a video advertisement from Thailand for Pantene Chrysalis shampoo, which tells the story of a deaf and mute girl who longs to play the violin. Via
posted by zarq (52 comments total)

The actress is Pimchanok "Baifern" Leuwisedpaiboon (พิมพ์ชนก ลือวิเศษไพบูลย์).
posted by zarq at 9:57 PM on February 20, 2011

Wow. That started out really great, and then took a sharp turn to ridiculousville.

I mean, for one thing what happened to the old guy? He seems to just show up in a hospital bed for no reason other than to add dramatic effect.
posted by Sys Rq at 10:08 PM on February 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Pantene: more tears.
posted by LucretiusJones at 10:10 PM on February 20, 2011 [7 favorites]

Huh, I thought I'd seen this here before but I'm not finding it in a search. Guess it must have been on some other site.
posted by kmz at 10:10 PM on February 20, 2011

They should have shown her angrily blow-drying her hair with a taped up blow-dryer just before going onstage.
posted by StickyCarpet at 10:10 PM on February 20, 2011 [5 favorites]

(Also, I found it a bit funny that during this ad for Pantene, an ad for Dove shampoo pops up.)
posted by Sys Rq at 10:11 PM on February 20, 2011

This is one of those videos that folks are either going to love or hate...'

I'm on the "love" side.. it was well done, made me smile and say "YES"..
posted by tomswift at 10:13 PM on February 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

"But will they get it?"
"Add a butterfly."
posted by you're a kitty! at 10:18 PM on February 20, 2011 [4 favorites]

So if I use Pantene products, it'll somehow help me to follow and achieve my dreams and possibly win a classical contest? Awesome!
posted by MaryDellamorte at 10:27 PM on February 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I dunno about you, but I love Thailand's answer to Willow Smith.
posted by johnnypollen at 10:38 PM on February 20, 2011

ads are ads, folks, they are intended to engage you emotionally..

The point isn't "is it OMG so truthful" it's "does it connect"

this one connects... sheesh... it's shampoo
posted by tomswift at 10:38 PM on February 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Well, what can I say? There IS a lot of hair in Thailand, and some of that hair is attached to living people, and some of those living people will by this product after watching this ad. huh
posted by coolxcool=rad at 10:43 PM on February 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

what happened to the old guy?

He was roughed up by the same thugs that broke the girl's violin; it is an unspoken assumption that they are doing it on behalf of the evil girl who plays the piano.
posted by malusmoriendumest at 10:43 PM on February 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Also, I came across this a long while back while looking for inspiring/original television advertisements. It goes over very well if I'm demonstrating the iPad to friends.
posted by malusmoriendumest at 10:46 PM on February 20, 2011

"I'm sorry those thugs beat you, old man."
"That wasn't me. I'm just here to add dramatic effect."
posted by obiwanwasabi at 11:05 PM on February 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Huh, I thought I'd seen this here before but I'm not finding it in a search.

Maybe you're thinking of those ridiculously sad insurance commercials.
posted by spiderskull at 11:08 PM on February 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

Maybe you're thinking of those ridiculously sad insurance commercials.

Nah, it was definitely this ad. It's a pretty old ad, I must have seen it on LJ or JF or something.

But thanks for that link, I hadn't seen those. Wow.
posted by kmz at 11:12 PM on February 20, 2011

it is an unspoken assumption that they are doing it on behalf of the evil girl who plays the piano.

I knew she was evil because of the red dress.
posted by mecran01 at 11:33 PM on February 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

Maybe you're thinking of those ridiculously sad insurance commercials.

The original post reminds me of Tim and Eric or something by Ryan Trecartin, it's absurd and goofy. But those Thai insurance commercials (posted before i was on mefi) made me cry every time. If I was teaching some kind of class on Condensed Pathos my students would have to watch these over and over. Thanks spiderskull.
posted by coolxcool=rad at 11:40 PM on February 20, 2011

I'd rather it be something like this instead of a video trying to pass off a pitch about a new active ingredient that for some unknown reason has never been in shampoo before.
posted by captainsohler at 11:55 PM on February 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

To counter the Sad, from the YouTube comments (of all places):

I was waiting for the twist at the end, where it turns out she was playing horribly and making scratching sounds and only IMAGINING the good sounds and everyone is just like wtf is this girl doing. but NO. magically even though at 2:45 the bow goes all the way to the fingerboard and she plays with horrible technique and is DEAF, somehow delivers a good performance

I'm a terrible person for finding that so funny.
posted by spiderskull at 11:56 PM on February 20, 2011 [5 favorites]

Good god, that was the stupidest thing I've ever seen. There are more plot holes than in the average 90-minute movie, but the most stupid thing is, they obviously had to keep cutting away from her when she was flailing her hair about, because it would have got tangled in the violin.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 11:57 PM on February 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Hair can't get tangled if you use Pantene.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 12:16 AM on February 21, 2011 [6 favorites]

Hair can't get tangled if you use Pantene.

Sure it can. Tangled in cancer.

(I read it on the internet so it must be true.)
posted by Sys Rq at 12:56 AM on February 21, 2011 [2 favorites]

I read this first as an ad for Pantone and came here to make this joke: 18-4043

But I was wrong. It's "The Karate Kid," for girls. With violins & Tiger Moms. Spot on, too; except that at the end she should have repaired her violin with duct tape.

Then it would have been perfect.
posted by chavenet at 1:32 AM on February 21, 2011 [2 favorites]

More localized Asian shampoo marketing:

Malaysian ad for Sunsilk Shampoo: the main character wears a headscarf (tudung). Her hair is not shown for one second, not even during the part of the ad where she is shampooing.

Two more Malaysian Sunsilk ads with headscarf.

NYTimes: "The company says the product is the first shampoo to speak directly to the “lifestyle of a tudung wearer.”"
posted by iviken at 1:38 AM on February 21, 2011 [2 favorites]

"The company says the product is the first shampoo to speak directly to the “lifestyle of a tudung wearer.”"

It makes me wonder if there have ever been shampoo ads featuring sheitels.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:58 AM on February 21, 2011

I know the guy who made this ad. His reasoning: "People should put their Pantene in the bathroom window where everyone can see it with pride". Also, when he presented the idea, the client cried.
posted by dabitch at 2:16 AM on February 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

The best ads manipulate our emotions the most effectively.

If ads were people we'd call them scumbags.
posted by WalterMitty at 2:54 AM on February 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

Stories were you know or can see the ending are pretty meh.

And a taped up violin?! COME ON.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:26 AM on February 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

Anyone else waiting for the reaction to be stunned silence because the deaf girl with the taped violin only managed cat-screeching noises?
posted by dabitch at 3:57 AM on February 21, 2011 [5 favorites]

Yeah dabitch, I was hoping for that, but doubted the commercial would be that bold.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:02 AM on February 21, 2011

Despite all the clichess and emotional fingering this is better than all these goddamn movies that are based on comics, adaptations of comic books, reboots or adaptations of comic books, sequels to adaptations of comic books...
posted by Foci for Analysis at 4:57 AM on February 21, 2011

That was the most manipulative thing I've seen in a while.
posted by graventy at 5:11 AM on February 21, 2011

Point of order: I am not sure where the assumption she is mute comes from. Deaf and deaf-mute are not the same thing.
posted by DarlingBri at 6:03 AM on February 21, 2011

Point of order: I am not sure where the assumption she is mute comes from. Deaf and deaf-mute are not the same thing.

First link. Description on the video at YouTube.
posted by zarq at 6:11 AM on February 21, 2011

That seems more like an advertisement for 3M Scotch Tape. That's some magic ass kind of tape, the instrument was in perfect tune.
posted by Fizz at 6:47 AM on February 21, 2011

That's some magic ass kind of tape, the instrument was in perfect tune.
Not only it was in tune, it was produced the voices of an entire string section.
posted by Wolfdog at 6:49 AM on February 21, 2011 [5 favorites]

See, if they had used Duct Tape no one would question the magic.
posted by chavenet at 8:17 AM on February 21, 2011

She picked Canon in D for a high stakes music contest? The piece beloved by unimaginative brides and 7th grade orchestras alike? I don't care how much heart you've got, that's like bringing a butter knife to a gun fight, and Piano Girl had an AK-47 by the sound of it.
posted by castlebravo at 8:23 AM on February 21, 2011

Canon in D?
posted by monju_bosatsu at 8:59 AM on February 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

If you want to be genuinely inspired by an amazing deaf musician, you should watch Touch the Sound, featuring percussionist Evelyn Glennie (and also Fred Frith!) And I promise it's 100% Pachelbel-Canon-free!
posted by mingo_clambake at 9:53 AM on February 21, 2011 [4 favorites]

Great opportunity to post this.
posted by you're a kitty! at 10:10 AM on February 21, 2011

Wow, sorry, delete my comment - monju_bosatsu posted that two comments above....
posted by you're a kitty! at 10:54 AM on February 21, 2011

I also could have sworn this was posted previously, but it must have been somewhere else. This commercial is funny for the sheer amount of heartstring-tugging moments they try to stuff into 3 minutes. I could easily see this airing on SNL as a parody of inspirational commercials.

"AND THEN EVERYONE WILDLY APPLAUDS HER AVERAGE, QUARTER FINISHED RENDITION OF PACHELBEL'S CANON. BAM."
posted by Solon and Thanks at 1:05 PM on February 21, 2011

This made absolutely no sense to me at all and I felt nothing except ridicule. But I found some beautiful Thai ads that I hadn't seen before in the comments for this post, so I guess karma comes around.
posted by eeeeeez at 1:16 PM on February 21, 2011

Saw this about a year ago at a film showcase that draws mostly the "art house" crowd. It was played as a trailer, right among the real trailers they show before the feature starts. The collective groan from the audience upon seeing that it was a Pantene ad seemed to be disappointment that the "movie" in the trailer looked really promising, but (being phony and all) wouldn't be coming soon.

This trailer [YouTube] plays with the conventions of film trailers to Great Comedic Effect.
posted by Rykey at 1:36 PM on February 21, 2011

I'm not usually a cynical person, but I found this to be the perfect combination of clichéd and manipulative. The poor girl against all odds finds the old man on the street that tells her it's OK to be different and learn to play the violin. The impossibly-evil girl who gets her comeuppance in the end and stands there embarrassed. It's even got an Eye-of-the-tiger style training sequence AND footage of a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis!

If this were a true story, I might be able to find it inspiring, but as an ad to sell me shampoo, it doesn't do it for me.
posted by Betelgeuse at 4:05 PM on February 21, 2011

I don't really buy shampoo based on commercials anyway, but I guess it's interesting.
posted by cp311 at 6:44 PM on February 21, 2011

I meant to ask before ... do they normally have four-minute-long ads in Thailand?
posted by AmbroseChapel at 10:47 PM on February 21, 2011

They're just 30 second ads that take four minutes to screen because all Thai words have fifteen syllables.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 2:51 AM on February 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

I love it when a four minute video has flashbacks.
posted by ODiV at 11:26 AM on February 22, 2011