Shirley Polykoff

MISS CLAIROL ADVERTISEMENTS

The first Miss Clairol ads were originally written "Does she... or doesn't she? Hair color so natural only her mother knows for sure!" However, Clairol was concerned about alienating hairdressers by their attempts at selling retail. By changing the word "mother" to "hairdresser," the ads turned the hairdresser into an authority. So, the final ads read, "Does she... or doesn't she? Hair color so natural only her hairdresser knows for sure!" (Cummings, 1985).

Ms. Polykoff insisted the models in the Miss Clairol ads resemble the "girl next door" or "shirtwaist types," rather than the high-glamour women typically portrayed in 1950s ads. She believed the ads should reflect the "proverbial girl on the block who's a little prettier than your wife and lives in a house slightly nicer than yours." The idea was to make hair coloring respectable and mainstream. The print ads typically included a child to undercut the sexual undertones, making it clear that respectable women colored their hair, not just "fast" women. Also, showing the mother's hair next to the child's hair emphasized the precise color match by comparison (Gladwell, 1999).

In a memo to the head art director dated July 9, 1955, Ms. Polykoff says regarding the Miss Clairol campaign, "...Remember especially that everything about these ads has to come through as absolutely real, straight-forward, and honest. Even the tiniest phony note with flaw what we're trying to accomplish" (Polykoff, 1975).

These were the first real ads about hair-coloring, so speaking directly to the woman about the color of her hair would have been impertinent. Rather, the copy involved two woman talking to one another about a third nice woman they both knew - the woman in the ad. Then, in the middle of the copy, the "conversation" would switch to the reader's own hair and how much Miss Clairol could do to improve her looks and outlook. "And smack in the middle of all this understanding and middle-class morality, we placed the arresting question, the bombshell - 'Does she... or doesn't she?'" A seemingly non-acceptable phrase turned a non-acceptable commodity into the highly respected industry that hair-coloring is today. The ads ran for about eighteen years (Polykoff, 1975).

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