Shirley Polykoff

LADY CLAIROL ADVERTISEMENTS

"For Lady Clairol, the cream-and-bleach combination that brought silver and platinum shades to Middle America, [Shirley Polykoff] wrote, 'Is it true blondes have more fun?' and then, even more memorably, 'If I've only one life, let me live it as a blonde!'" (Gladwell, 1999).

The Lady Clairol campaign was such a success that women began to send letters of thanks. One such letter follows, which was circulated around the office and eventually used as the theme for a national sales meeting held in Chicago (Polykoff, 1975):

Dear Clairol,

Thank you for changing my life. My boyfriend, Harold, and I were keeping company for five years but he never wanted to set a date. This made me very nervous. I am 28 and my mother kept saying, soon it would be too late for me.

I ride the subways every day to work because I am a bookkeeper. Three months ago it was too crowded as usual to get a seat. So I had to stand right in front of your ad which said blondes have more fun.

Harold always looks at blonde girls when they pass by even when I'm walking with him, so this started me thinking. I thought maybe I should do something to my own brown hair like your poster says.

That is how I am in Bermuda now on my honeymoon with Harold and writing this letter to thank you for changing my life.

Best regards,
MRS. Harold -------

Ms. Polykoff later admitted the truth (at her retirement party 18 years later) that she had written the letter herself and had it mailed from Bermuda by a friend visiting there. She had written the letter only as a joke, but once it was taken seriously by her colleagues, she found it difficult to confess the truth. At her retirement party from Foote, Cone & Belding, she asked the 22 men present if they remembered the letter from the girl who got to Bermuda honeymoon by becoming a blonde. Indeed, they all said yes. She then said, "Well, I wrote it" (Polykoff, 1975).

Richard Gelb, President of Bristol-Myers (left),
and Bruce Gelb, President of Clairol (right),
hear about the forged letter from the "honeymooning blonde"
for the first time at the Clairol party.
(Photo from Does She... Or Doesn't She, 1975)

With her ads, Shirley Polykoff had created something "iconic" (Gladwell, 1999).

"Is it true blondes have more fun?"

"If I've only one life... let me live it as a blonde!"

~ Home ~ Table of Contents ~ Introduction ~ Family Life ~
~ Early Career ~ FC&B ~ Clairol ~ Miss Clairol Ads ~ S.P. Advertising ~
~ Ad Collection ~ Honors ~ Conclusion ~ Bibliography ~