A prolific painter of portraits before and after the French Revolution ...

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ch07.qxd 12/2/04 11:58 AM Page 321 techniques for explaining 321 As was to become typical in hair-coloring ads, the age of the model was a good ten years younger than the typical product user. The model is in her early thirties (witness the age of the child), too young to have gray hair. This aspirational motif was picked up later for other Clairol products: “If I’ve only one life . . . let me live it as a blonde!” “Every woman should be a redhead . . . at least once in her life!” “What would your husband say if suddenly you looked 10 years younger?” “Is it true blondes have more fun?” “What does he look at second?” And, of course, “The closer he gets the better you look!” But these slogans for different brand extensions only work because Miss Clairol had done her job. She made hair coloring possible, she made hair coloring acceptable, she made at-home hair coloring—dare I say it— empowering. She made the unique into the commonplace. By the 1980s, the hairdresser problem had been long forgotten and the follow-up lines read, “Hair color so natural, they’ll never know for sure.” The Clairol theme propelled sales 413 percent higher in six years and influenced nearly 50 percent of all adult women to tint their tresses. Ironically, Miss Clairol, bought out by Bristol-Myers in 1959, also politely opened the door to her competitors, L’Oreal and Revlon. Thanks to Clairol, hair coloring has become a very attractive business indeed. The key ingredients are just a few pennies’ worth of peroxide, ammonia, and pigment. In a pretty package at the drugstore it sells for four to ten dollars per application. To put it mildly, the cost-revenue spread is what is really enticing. Gross profits of 70 percent are standard. As is common in the beauty industry, advertising and promotion cost far more than the product. If you want to see how well this Clairol campaign did, just look at how L’Oreal sells its version of hair dye. In L’Oreal’s pitch, a rapturous beauty proudly proclaims that her coloring costs more, but that “I’m worth it.” In a generation, hair coloring has gone from a surreptitious whisper (Does she . . . ?) to a heroic trumpet (You better believe I do!). The user may be dangerous, the product certainly isn’t. L’Oreal now dominates the worldwide market. But by taking control of how the new woman presented herself, Miss Clairol did indeed make it possible to come a long way, baby. In a current ad for Miss Clairol’s descendant Nice ’n’ Easy, the pixieish Julia Louis- Dreyfus, from Seinfeld, shows us how the unique and dangerous has become common and tame. In her Elaine persona, she interrupts a wedding, 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 PROFESSIONAL COPY—NOT FOR RESALE
ch07.qxd 12/2/04 11:58 AM Page 322 322 Chapter 7 explaining telling the bride, “Even if your marriage doesn’t last, your haircolor will.”The guests are not shocked; they nod understandingly. In your journal, write down the meanings of the following words: • is quickly assimilated (4) • from the couturiers (4) • • • filling in the ellipsis (12) • • • enthusiastic entrepreneur (6) reconciliation of opposites (10) models purporting to be secretaries (15) the motif of mother and child (15) had to be ambiguous (17) QUESTIONS FOR WRITING AND DISCUSSION 1. Recall the first time you colored your hair—or cut or styled it in a particular way. What was your attitude toward making a change? Did you change because of influences from peers, family, friends, advertisements, or other social pressure? What was the effect of the change—on your attitude, personality, or relationships with others? 2. A key part to any successful advertising campaign is understanding the rhetorical situation: the product, the purpose and audience, the occasion, the selected text and images, and the cultural context. First consider the cultural context. Twitchell subtitles his essay, “How to Advertise a Dangerous Product.” According to Twitchell, what was culturally “dangerous” about a haircoloring product at that time? What specifically were the dangers? How did Shirley Polykoff ’s Miss Clairol ads diffuse each of those dangers? 3. Understanding and successfully appealing to the audience is a second key part of any successful text or advertisement. Who was the audience or audiences PROFESSIONAL COPY—NOT FOR RESALE
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A prolific painter of portraits before and after the French Revolution ...

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