'Don't Hate Dak Prescott Because He's Beautiful'
FRISCO - The TV commercial came out about 35 years ago, and it's still locked into the filing cabinet of my brain.
I didn't care one way or another about Pantene (a shampoo, I guess) and I didn't have any particular hair concerns (then as now my hair is thick and luxurious!) and I didn't even care much about Kelly LeBrock, the model and budding movie star who I believe had already appeared in The Woman in Red and Weird Science (I did care about ignoring dumb films.)
But "Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful''? That line?
I cared about that line. And still do. It's ... well, it's perfect. It's attention-grabbing, it's both bold and sweet, and it allows just enough room for the consumer - male or female - to be both allured by it and bitchy about it.
Too bad some advertiser today isn't bold enough to prop up Dak Prescott in a TV commercial, film him slowly removing his silly Stetson and then shaking his head in a way that would make his non-existent locks fall freely before uttering the line:
"Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful.''
Because he is. And because you do.
As always in this space, when I use the word "hate,'' I'm talking about "sports hate.'' And Dallas Cowboys fans now "sports hate'' the position the failed Dallas/Dak negotiations have put them in. It's unsettling, I say ... and yet Prescott himself says he's "grateful and blessed.''
"Grateful and blessed.'' Maybe that's Dak's version of the Pantene line.
Dak Prescott turns 27 on July 29. He has overcome hardship and doubt and made himself (with the help of the Cowboys, of course), a "star'' player and a "superstar'' personality. He's a good-looking single man with fun friends and a marvelous house and the earning power to soon make $40 million-plus per year to play the game he loves ...
And assuming there is a 2020 NFL season, he's making $31.409 million this year - not counting endorsement money, from shampoo sponsors or otherwise.
So yes, he and his life are "beautiful'' in virtually every way ... and he's earning some "dislike'' for that. He's "greedy,'' some people say (the same amount of "some people'' who say that Jerry Jones is "cheap,'' so I suppose it evens out). But the truth is, Dak Prescott is navigating a system that wasn't initially set up to benefit him much (as a fourth-round rookie, he was for a minute there tied with Jameil Showers on the Dallas depth chart) ...
And he's beating that system. He's winning. He's beautiful.
Madison Avenue knew it about Kelly LeBrock 35 years ago and One Cowboys Way knows it now. So ...
"Don't Hate Dak Prescott Because He's Beautiful.''
