A Little Brand Nostalgia

It's funny how times change. Back in the 1950s, most women would never have thought of coloring their hair.  At that time it was not socially acceptable to do so. That was the premise behind Clairol's famous "Does she or doesn't she?" advertising campaign.  In the campaign, seemingly respectable women who had changed their hair color were shown...but even getting the ads published was a process! Life magazine and some TV stations would not run the ad because they felt the language was too suggestive and may offend women readers or viewers. Hard to imagine that this campaign would be offensive given today's standards! 

To get the ad campaign approved to run, Clairol asked Life to survey a group of their own women employees to see if they were offended by the ads. The women didn't mind the ads so the campaign was launched and it was a highly successful marketing effort for the hair color company and was instrumental in the freedom we have today to express ourselves through changing our hair color.