Nail Shaming

Scholl have been around for many years now - if you've ever wanted to pumice a heel or place an inset into the sole of your uncomfortable shoe then you've probably seen some of their products lining the shelves of the chemist.

But this year Scholl decided they wanted to branch out, to grow their business - and thus they came to the decision to diversify and set their sights on the nailcare market.

You don't see many advertisements for nailcare products these days - gel and acrylic nails were a big thing twenty years ago but their popularity faded out, along with fake nails and french manicures.

Why the fall in popularity?

My hope is that perhaps people finally realised the inanity of spending so much time, money and effort on a body part that virtually nobody notices anyway. You never hear a man gush over the sexiness of a woman's nails... Unless the guy has some kind of fetish. And who wants to attract a fetishist?

So the marketing team that was handling the new Scholl directive used one of the golden rules of marketing in order to propel Scholl forward into the nailcare scene - they created a problem where none previously existed in order to sell the solution.

Are people really so shallow and empty that they care so much about their fingernails?

Apparently so.

Does your barista have a perfect manicure?

Scholl's newest ad campaign does nothing more than to make me feel as though I'm being nail shamed, and I wrongly assumed other women would feel the same, but lately when being handed a takeaway coffee or a muffin I've noticed that young women in particular have been taken in by the whole picture-of-female-perfection thing. Yes, I know I said before that no one really notices other people's fingernails, but when you see something out of the ordinary, like someone in the service industry with perfectly manicured nails, it tends to stand out a little.

No, she's not gazing down adoringly at her newborn child or her lover. She's staring at her nails.

The particular television ad that Scholl runs in order to nail shame women features a woman at yoga bending over at the waist to touch her toes (hell, I can't even do that) and as she does so she admires her beautifully manicured finger and toenails. Another woman, exercising beside her, falls over in her awkward yoga pose due to excessive lollygagging caused by the sheer unrelenting beauty of the manicures. Thus a problem is created - the need to have perfectly manicured nails, so that people can envy you some more - and not even when going out somewhere fancy, like to a gala, on a date, to an anniversary or a wedding; oh no, when going to YOGA.

Your nails need to be perfect while you're EXERCISING.

Her nails are so beautiful she doesn't even have to join in with the rest of the class.

I don't know about you, but when I'm exercising I look like crap and that isn't about to change anytime soon.

I suppose I shouldn't be shocked at the nail shaming - I mean, Scholl have been sole-shaming women for years. I can't understand it myself - something that gets walked on day after day in the kinds of shoes a lot of professional women wear to work and people don't expect them to develop callouses? I believe the callouses are there for a reason - but women are shamed into removing them. Why?

Effortless - just grind away at them day after day like you're polishing stone.

Apparently they're unsightly.

Shame Scholl, shame.