Capital One Shopping (Makeup and Skincare on Amazon) Ad

The very first commercial ad reviewed here on KCUN...for obvious reasons.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!

Of all ads shown online, namely on YouTube, I took matters into my own hands to launch our Commercial Reviews section with this ad. I'm not sure what it is, but because I normally don't speak for most men out there, I find this girl very beautiful and pretty. Pleasant voice, pretty teeth, nice hair, gorgeous eyes, cute tattoo...she looks good. Because ads like this have gotten circulated and broadcasted over and over again, many have felt very annoyed and dislike the advertisement's presentation which comes off as monotonous and robotic. I hear those critiques loud and clear, but my eyes dodged all those flaws because I admire the girl. I'm just being honest here, so anyway...

This ad has been presented on YouTube and is one of those where you can skip after five seconds in. I believe back in 2018, this very same girl did the same advertisement with WikiBuy, which eventually got bought out by Capital One Shopping. Interestingly enough, I didn't pay attention to the ad until this pretty girl went from saying "WikiBuy" to "Capital One Shopping." After that change, I paid attention and allowed my eyes to fully absorb the girl's pretty face. Then, I was thinking, "okay, how many times will she be seen in front of the camera on this short ad?" Shown on the video above, she appears twice—the beginning and the end. As for the advertisement itself, it's blunt and straight to the point, which I like, as some ads take a long as, what, one minute, until the service/product has finally been shown to tell us what they're trying to share. In fact, I would've loved to see this girl on the computer navigating through the website with her voice, demonstrating the money-saving technique (yeah, a silly excuse just to see more of her).



Suddenly, a second version was released featuring the same girl but in a different part of her room, with different lighting and a slightly different message. She goes from "try Capital One Shopping" to "use this tool." I'm not sure who the marketing supervisor is that's handling the advertisement scripts, but I didn't think that the "non-mention" of the brand name would've done any better. It's no wonder since I've seen the second version of the ad no more than about three times on YouTube. For my "online ad woman crush," she looks a bit more tan and her hair just a little shorter. The lighting is much less harsh than the first version, but for the record, I preferred her longer hair (that's just me). Despite all her beauty, my guess is that she's a makeup artist of some sort. Does she do makeup tutorials on YouTube? I'm not sure so that's been unconfirmed at the moment. However, I'm quite certain that her boyfriend/husband is reading this and crafting a neat little email telling me, "yo bro, that's my girl. I appreciate it but don't review my girl like that. She's my queen, bro." That's cute, but we're not talking about you. There's a reason men like me can still admire beauties like Shakira, despite their marital status, so if that's something you can't handle, that's your problem...bro.

While I appreciate the simplicity of the ad, I didn't like the removal of the brand, almost trying to sneak in unsuspecting folks from installing something they don't know about (nevertheless, it still happens since people don't think before taking action). It's a bad move, and I truly don't recommend other advertising companies to do the same thing, though it won't matter because they'll do it anyway. Never hide a brand service or product in an effort to snag some subscribers or sales from it. We understand business is business, and things have been incredibly tight during these rough and tough times since 2020. Just advertise, and the people will flow through if they feel it fulfills their needs and wants. Oh sure, I may not be an expert in commercial advertising, nor marketing, but that doesn't mean I can't chime in and throw out suggestions for improvement (historically, our website has seen ideas/suggestions shared here, then eventually taken and considered without crediting us for fears we may be accused of "audience stealing," so to speak).

I also would like to ask why Capital One is so obsessed with what's in our wallets? That'd be like a store assigning a staff member to watch/spy on customers using the restroom making sure they "do their business" properly without any mess around the stalls. Ever been stared at while you were in a public bathroom? That's what it feels like when a company suggests to "do [my] wallet a favor," let alone asking what's in it. If you care to know, I have several old receipts of meals I bought, business cards from places I used to shop, business cards from those who wish to collaborate with me and to offer their creative services via video projects, a Dodgers ticket to a game I attended back in 2017, my driver's license, and money in the form of a plastic card and paper. Not so exciting, huh? Yeah, I feel violated now.

As for the unnamed girl on this advertisement, I humbly apologize that the ad you agreed to do may not be everyone's cup of tea. However, given that this is our very first commercial review presented here at KCUN, and that I'm one of the rare few who actually found you pretty, applauding for a job well done, I'd like to add your website/YouTube link on our website below, under MORE SITES for everyone to see and possibly subscribe to, as a complimentary gesture from us (doubtful if you also accept tips and/or donations). I'm sure there are some that admire you, like I do, but nevertheless, I'm now a fan. Whatever creative endeavors you hope to pursue in the coming years, we'd like to show our support as it may level out the harsh critiques hurled at you for being in an ad endlessly aired around YouTube every yoctosecond.

If you, unnamed girl, wish to remain anonymous, despite any possible communication between us being exchanged behind the scenes (check out our Privacy Policy page), we completely understand. Just know that this offer will still be available, in case your mind changes. Given that this is a commercial review, the critiques mentioned here are as such. We hope to see more of you in the near future! HUGE shout out to you!

Kris Caballero

Founder of KCU Network and KCU Plus, Kris has been writing since he managed a personal blog made back in late 2005. Officially back to doing computer programming (software development) and video production, Kris enjoys reading books on Mathematics, Quantum Computing, Philosophy, playing old video/DOS games, digital video archiving, and listening to sports, public radio and classical music.

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