Amazon Prime’s Rapunzel Commercial Is Exactly The Fairy Tale Every Girl Needs

In Amazon’s latest commercial, Rapunzel may not have a handsome prince to save her but she does have Amazon Prime; and thats all she needs to save herself. The ‘Prime Changes Everything’ campaign is a reimagining of the mythical heroine from the classic German fairytale. While the traditional story depicts a princess, with glowingly long hair, banished to a tower in the middle of the woods with neither stairs nor door until a Prince arrives to save her—Amazon’s version is distinctly different. In a modern-day twist, a tech savvy Rapunzel leverages the convenient shipping of her Prime membership for fast and free same-day delivery of a ladder to rescue herself. She unceremoniously mounts a horse and heads to town where she launches a hair styling empire, makes a ton of money and lives happily ever after. It’s an alternate ending for sure.

Still, in a world where most films and television shows don’t pass the Bechdel test; it’s pretty astonishing to find a 30 second commercial that gets it right. The Bechdel Test, or Bechdel-Wallace Test names the following three criteria for TV and film. The film must have at least two women who talk to each other about something besides a man. And while the commercial doesn’t meet the standards to a T—there is no dialogue, this version certainly puts Rapunzel at the center of her own rescue. Not only does she save herself, but she plots her own course and follows her passion. Her destiny is her own.

There’s also one other major difference about Rapunzel this go around. She’s black. Casting the iconic character of Rapunzel as a young black woman is no small thing. We’ve seen the internet irrupt when other fictional characters have been non-traditionally cast for TV and film roles before. Still, we know representation is important, even in advertising. Studies have shown that among media, advertising can greatly affect one’s perception of self and others.

Rapunzel’s hair is also decidedly different from its usual depiction. At the commercials end, we see a rags to riches Rapunzel dawning cornrows as she walks through her thriving business. It’s a moment.

The actress featured in the spot is Josephine Lawrence—a relative new comer to the industry with her own accomplishments—like more than a handful of IMDB credits for her appearances in Fox’s 911 and the Dead Girls Detective Agency.

All and all, while the commercial is quite amusing, the effects of fairytales on young girls autonomy and self-esteem are no laughing matter. The way young girls view the roles of a woman in society are greatly influenced by the archetypes found in fairytales. M. Arbuthnot book entitled Children and books, explains that books are often the primary source for the presentation of societal values to the young child. Studies also show that children start to develop gender stereotyping between the ages of three and six—ages when they are most likely to encounter fairytales.

The ‘Prime Changes Everything’ ad campaign which has been running on Facebook, Instagram and web since August according to Ispot.TV, just began to make waves in the social media metaverse with influencers like Demetria Lucas lauding the ads execution via instagram.

Still while the ad showcases black women in front of the camera —The Rapunzel ad also includes Nicki Minaj’s “Feeling Myself”—there may not have been as much diversity behind the scenes. According to AboutAmazon.com, the commercial was shot by Erik Messerchmidt, who in April 2021 won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Mank, and directed by Wayne McClammy, whose credits include an Emmy-nominated ad for Amazon Alexa. Joint London Creative Agency, and Hungry Man Production Company also worked on the project according to Ispot.TV

See the full commercial Here