In your typical lotion commercial, and this one is no exception, the human face is front and center. Some bright skinned model is usually there beaming like she’s just, that instant, received enlightenment, and the implication is that you, too, could be this happy and beautiful if only you would buy the product in question and perform the necessary ablutions. Jergens starts from the same trope, but when it’s Leslie Mann on the screen, you know that a reverent commitment to tired commercial mores isn’t going to be what’s about to unfold.
Leslie reminds us what we already know deep down: Beauty isn’t just about your face; it’s about your butt. The butt has really seen its stock rise over the past several years. Maybe it’s the changing vantage point of the writer, but it really seems like butts are “bigger” than ever, in the sense of global popularity. We’ve had multiple mainstream pop songs devoted to the derriere, and fashions tend to promote the butt as a singular focal point in a way that seemed reserved for the breasts in the 80’s and 90’s. Still, the butt remains hidden away, and Leslie Mann reminds us that everyone with a butt will be happier if its skin is soft and beautiful.
She also talks about just how bad skin can get, on some of the body’s most tucked away and unflattering parts. First there’s the heel. Ever get heels so dry that they pick up little balls of dust and crud as you walk across a carpet? Skin’s got to get pretty dry and leathery for that to happen, but happen it does. The same goes for the legs, which, Leslie reminds us, can grow so dry they will resemble churros. Churros are delicious, but the image is not appetizing. Jergens is the cure. Buy it for your beauty. Buy it for your butt.
