Whether or not blondes have more fun, blondeness has been a crucial component in the hair care industry, the world of fashion, and popular imagination. While blondeness has for centuries been associated in art and literature with the fairer sex, and thus inextricably bound to all the race and cultural implications that have long privileged light complexions, bleaching hair blonde was not readily embraced until the middle of the 20th century. Changing hair color, much like the use of makeup, was associated with deception, artificiality, and sensuality, all of which violated middle-class ideas about respectability. In the 20th century, Hollywood made blondeness the crowning glory of film icons like Jean Harlow and Marilyn Monroe, who epitomized both feminine vice and virtue. Clever advertising campaigns made dying hair acceptable for the girl next door and cashed in on the inherent contradictions that such a bold look implied to make millions for the hair color industry.
Hollywood Blondes
Against the backdrop of decades of deteriorating race relations that relegated blackness and ethnic identities to that of other, 1930s Hollywood turned to the blondest of blondes to sell films and fantasy amid economic depression. Jean Harlow titillated moviegoers in films like Platinum Blonde (1931) and Blonde Venus (1932), in which she achieved her trademark blondeness with the help of bleach, soap, and ammonia that was so damaging that she had to resort to a wig. Nevertheless, Harlow and Hollywood paved the way for a series of blonde starlets who ranged from the sassy Mae West to demure Marlene Dietrich. The most famous 20th-century blonde, however, was Marilyn Monroe. Her famous nude calendar shot made her the first and most famous Playboy centerfold and blondeness a symbol of unabashed sexuality. Blondes were turning heads but they were not without their critics who mocked blondeness along with other narcissistic beauty practices. Assuming brains and beauty were a rare combination, an ever-growing litany of dumb blonde jokes could be heard in bars and businesses, especially as increasing numbers of women directly challenged the prevailing sexism. By the 1970s, liberation movements coupled with the rise of the natural look also threatened the bottled blonde, but California tans and sun-kissed highlights made weaves and frosted tips all the rage. By the 1980s, artificially had lost much of its taboo in the realm of beauty consumption. At the one extreme, Princess Diana coupled purity and humility with her look, and at the other, stars like Madonna and Pamela Anderson unapologetically embraced blondeness as a symbol of personal ambition and sensuality.
Advertising Campaigns
Hollywood sex symbols made iconic, advertising campaigns marketed to fit an ever-changing political milieu: blondeness inspired some of most innovative advertising campaigns in the beauty industry and privileged female innovation in the almost exclusively male world of advertising. Clairol quickly dominated the market thanks to an easy home rinse process and the advertising genius of Shirley Polykoff. In the late 1950s, Polykoff ’s innovative ads toyed with an ambiguity that balanced sexuality and respectability. The slogan “Does she or doesn’t she . . . only her hairdresser knows for sure,” reassured the girl next door that she too could be blonde and beautiful. Polykoff followed with other iconic ad campaigns such as the rhetorical catchphrase that asked “Is it true blondes have more fun?” and “If I’ve only one life, let me live it as a blonde.” Competition from other companies was quick to follow. Advertising agencies were male dominated in the 1960s and ’70s, and Ilon Specht, a female copywriter, grew irritated with male colleagues who insisted, for example, that she only use “girl” rather than “woman” in all of her copy. Frustrated personally and professionally, she came up with L’Oréal’s “I’m worth it” campaign that captured the mood of the women’s liberation movement and a major share of the market. Most recently, L’Oréal’s “Feel the Power of Color” ad campaign captured the same vein for a generation of women looking to crack more glass ceilings. Today, Western fascination coupled with global marketing strategies have made blondeness popular in countries as diverse as Brazil, Japan, and China, expanding a hair color industry into previously untapped markets around the globe.
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