Clairol
Encyclopedia
Clairol is a personal care
Personal care
Personal care or toiletries is the industry which manufactures consumer products used for beautification and in personal hygiene.-Subsectors:Subsectors of personal care include cosmetics and feminine hygiene....

 products division of Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....

. The Clairol company was started in 1931 by Lawrence M. Gelb and wife, Joan, who named their enterprise after a hair-coloring preparation they found while traveling in France.
In the 1950s, after two decades of selling the company’s hair tint to beauty salons, Clairol became a household name when it launched the first one-step home hair color formula, Miss Clairol Hair Color Bath, which debuted with the now-famous catchphrase, “Does she…or doesn’t she? Only her hairdresser knows for sure.” Within six years of Miss Clairol’s launch, 70% of women were coloring their hair.

With a shampoo-in hair color and a memorable catchphrase, Clairol captured the feminist sensibilities of the day, wrote Malcom Gladwell, author of social-psychology bestsellers The Tipping Point and Blink, in “True Colors,” a 1999 New Yorker article about the hidden history of hair dye. He posited: “In writing the history of women in the postwar era, did we forget something important? Did we leave out hair?”

Today Clairol makes hair coloring
Hair coloring
Hair coloring is the practice of changing the color of hair. Common reasons are to cover gray hair, to change to a color regarded as more fashionable or desirable, and to restore the original hair color after it has been discolored by hairdressing processes or sun bleaching...

, hair spray
Hair spray
Hair spray is a common cosmetic product that is sprayed onto hair to keep it stiff or in a certain style...

, shampoo
Shampoo
Shampoo is a hair care product used for the removal of oils, dirt, skin particles, dandruff, environmental pollutants and other contaminant particles that gradually build up in hair...

, hair conditioner
Hair conditioner
Hair conditioner is a hair care product that alters the texture and appearance of hair.-History:For centuries, natural oils have been used to condition human hair. These natural products are still used today, including essential oils such as tea tree oil and carrier oils such as jojoba oil...

 and styling consumables and publishes a free beauty magazine called Color Source. Among its brands are Balsam Color, Herbal Essences, Hydrience, Loving Care, Natural Instincts, Nice ’n Easy and Ultress. (See the “Clairol Products” section below for a complete list.)

Alex’s Industry Makeover

In 1949 the single-step Miss Clairol Hair Color Bath was introduced to the U.S. beauty industry. When Clairol sales representatives gave a live demonstration of Miss Clairol at the International Beauty Show in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, thousands of hairdressers and beauticians gathered to watch. Bruce Gelb
Bruce Gelb
Bruce Gelb is an American businessman and diplomat. He is the retired president of Clairol and former vice chairman of Bristol Myers Squibb.-Early Life and Education:...

, son of Lawrence and Joan and a former Clairol executive, described the scene in the New Yorker article: “They were astonished. This was to the world of hair color what computers were to the world of adding machines. The sales guys had to bring buckets of water and do the rinsing off in front of everyone, because the hairdressers in the crowd were convinced we were doing something to the models behind the scenes.”

In 1956 Clairol launched an at-home version of Miss Clairol hair color, promoted by one of the most effective advertising campaigns of the time, "Does she…or doesn’t she? Only her hairdresser knows for sure."

In 1957 the Gelbs sold their company to Bristol-Myers. Sons Bruce and Richard L. Gelb
Richard L. Gelb
Richard Lee Gelb was a Consultant and Director of various corporations and not-for-profit entities. He was Chairman Emeritus since 1995, Chairman from 1976 to 1995, President from 1967 to 1976, Chief Executive Officer from 1972 to 1993 and a Director since 1960, of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company .A...

 filled executive positions at that pharmaceutical company; Richard became chief executive officer in 1972. Bristol-Myers merged with Squibb Corporation to form Bristol-Myers Squibb
Bristol-Myers Squibb
Bristol-Myers Squibb , often referred to as BMS, is a pharmaceutical company, headquartered in New York City. The company was formed in 1989, following the merger of its predecessors Bristol-Myers and the Squibb Corporation...

, and Richard Gelb remained the merged company's CEO until 1993. Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....

 purchased the Clairol division from Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2001 for $4.95 billion.

Clairol’s Colourful Advertising History

Clairol’s one-step home hair color was a breakthrough for the beauty industry, and just as novel was the advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...

 campaign that introduced Clairol to consumers.

Clairol hired the advertising firm Foote, Cone & Belding
Foote, Cone & Belding
Draftfcb is one of the largest global advertising agency networks. It is owned by Interpublic Group and was formed by the 2006 merger of Foote, Cone & Belding and Draft. Although the merger of the two agencies is fairly young, the origins of Draftfcb date back to 1873, with the opening of Lord &...

, which assigned the account to a junior copywriter, Shirley Polykoff
Shirley Polykoff
Shirley Polykoff was an American advertising executive whose "Does She... Or Doesn't She?" tagline for Clairol dramatically increased sales and earned her a place in the Advertising Hall of Fame....

, who was also the sole female copywriter at the firm. It was her future mother-in-law who inspired the now-famous “Does she…or doesn’t she?” catchphrase. After meeting Polykoff for the first time, she took her son aside and grilled him about the true hue of his girlfriend’s tresses. “Does she color her hair? Or doesn’t she?” the humiliated Polykoff could imagine her mother-in-law-to-be asking.

In fact, Polykoff did, though the practice was not something to which women openly admitted during the Depression, when her future mother-in-law first posed the question. Even by 1956, when Polykoff was assigned the Clairol campaign, hair dye was still considered something only tawdry women used.

To counter the stigma of hair color and create a wholesome image for Clairol, early print ads—some of which were shot by fashion photographers Richard Avedon
Richard Avedon
Richard Avedon was an American photographer. An obituary published in The New York Times said that "his fashion and portrait photographs helped define America's image of style, beauty and culture for the last half-century."-Photography career:Avedon was born in New York City to a Jewish Russian...

 and Irving Penn
Irving Penn
Irving Penn was an American photographer known for his portraiture and fashion photography.-Early career:Irving Penn studied under Alexey Brodovitch at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art from which he was graduated in 1938. Penn's drawings were published by Harper's Bazaar and he...

—featured girl-next-door-ish models accompanied by children sporting locks of the same shade. The idea was to skew toward the sentimental, not the tawdry.

“Does she…or doesn’t she?” became one of the most effective campaigns of the time: Within six years, 70% of all adult women were coloring their hair, and Clairol’s sales increased 413%. In 1967 Polykoff was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame.

In addition, the company gained notoriety in the late 90s/early 2000s for its ads for Clairol Herbal Essences shampoo. Proclaimed as 'a totally organic experience', the ads would often feature women washing their hair while making noises similar to those of someone in the stage of orgasm
Orgasm
Orgasm is the peak of the plateau phase of the sexual response cycle, characterized by an intense sensation of pleasure...

.

More Iconic Catchphrases

Clairol continued to market its hair color products with clever catchphrases. In the 1960s ads for Lady Clairol boldly asked, “Is it true blondes have more fun?” and those for Loving Care, “What would your husband do if suddenly you looked ten years younger?”

When the company introduced Nice ’n Easy, the first at-home shampoo-in hair color, women were told, “The closer he gets, the better you look.”

Other Clairol catchphrases include “Some lucky girls are born red. Others catch up.” (Radiantly Red), and “If I’ve only one life to live, let me live it as a blonde.”

Clairol’s “Does she…or doesn’t she?” legacy continues today: Recently it was one of the big brand campaigns featured in 2008 at “The Real Men and Women of Madison Avenue and Their Impact on American Culture” exhibit at the New York Public Library
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...

’s Science, Industry and Business Library.

Corporate History

  • 1931: Lawrence M. Gelb and wife, Joan, discover Clairol, a hair-coloring preparation, while traveling in France. They co-found the Clairol company and import the product to U.S. salons.
  • 1950: Miss Clairol Hair Color Bath launched. This is the first one-step hair color product for professional (salon) use.
  • 1956: Miss Clairol Hair Color Bath—the first at-home permanent hair color—debuts.
  • 1959: Pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb
    Bristol-Myers Squibb
    Bristol-Myers Squibb , often referred to as BMS, is a pharmaceutical company, headquartered in New York City. The company was formed in 1989, following the merger of its predecessors Bristol-Myers and the Squibb Corporation...

     purchases Clairol from the Gelbs. Sons Richard L. Gelb and Bruce Gelb fill executive positions at the company.
  • 1965: Clairol launches Nice 'n Easy
    Nice 'n Easy
    Nice ’n Easy is a shampoo-in permanent hair-coloring product for home use. It was introduced in 1965 with the advertising tagline, “The closer she gets, the better you look.”...

    —the first shampoo-in hair color—with the catchphrase, “The closer he gets, the better you look.”
  • 1967: Richard Gelb becomes president of Bristol-Myers Squibb.
  • 1972–1993: Richard Gelb serves as CEO of Bristol-Myers Squibb.
  • 2001: Procter & Gamble purchases Clairol division from Bristol-Myers Squibb.
  • 2003: Procter & Gamble acquires Wella
    Wella
    Wella is a German company, and one of the world’s leading cosmetics suppliers. Founded in 1880 by Franz Stroher, with its headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany, the company is represented in over 150 countries....

     for its P&G Professional Care division continuing its expansion into the professional sector of the hair care products business.
  • 2007: P&G Beauty announces it will close its Stamford, Conn. site. Plant operations, in Stamford’s Cove neighborhood, will be split between locations in Massachusetts and Mexico by 2010, with administration in Cincinnati.

Clairol Products

The Clairol hair-coloring line includes permanent hair color, semi-permanent hair color, demi-permanent hair color, highlighting
Hair highlighting
Hair highlighting/lowlighting refers to changing a person's hair color, using lightener or haircolor to color strands of the hair in varying sizes. There are four basic types of highlights: foil highlights, hair painting, frosting, and chunking. Highlights can be done in natural or unnatural colors...

 and blonding products. Brands under the Clairol hair color are:

External links

  • Clairol Hair Color
  • http://www.gladwell.com/1999/1999_03_22_a_colors.html article from The New Yorker
    The New Yorker
    The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...

     by Malcolm Gladwell
    Malcolm Gladwell
    Malcolm Gladwell, CM is a Canadian journalist, bestselling author, and speaker. He is currently based in New York City and has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996...

    on hair coloring advertising
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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