Another in our series of “actual ads” from old beauty magazines. You’ll have to read the fine print on this one…
Nostalgic nonsense
Forget about the bittersweet nostalgia that anyone over 40 would associate with this classic 70′s brand. (Trust us, this was a big deal at the time…)
Forget about the strangely quaint notion of using the America’s Jr. Miss as Breck’s brand spokesperson… (Ah, those were such simpler times… *sigh*)
Forget about the fact that she’s inexplicably holding a guitar… (?????)
Forget all this and focus on the technical claim at the bottom of this 1970’s Glamour advertisement:
“…The only leading shampoo that isn’t mostly detergent.”
Huh? Doesn’t that beg the question: if it’s not detergent, then WHAT IS IT???
Shampoo ingredients
Shampoos primarily consist of water and detergent, in that order. Oh sure, there are several other ingredients that are important. But these products have always been MOSTLY water or detergent. (NOTE: Yes we know that there are funky solid shampoos, but those are few and far between.) So, is the point of this ad to clue us in that Breck isn’t mostly detergent, and therefore, it contains more water than the other leading brands? There doesn’t seem to be much advantage to that!
Baffled by Breck
Or, is the point that Breck contains some kind of miracle ingredient other than water or detergent? If so, why not tell us what that is??? Either way, it seems to be an odd point of differentiation. More likely, it’s poor copywriting by an advertising agency that didn’t understand their product very well. We’d never see that kind of misleading advertising today, now would we? (Yeah, right…)
Anyway, that’s enough for now. We have to get back our enthusiastic outdoor life of horseback riding, skiing and swimming. (According to the fine print, that’s what the Breck Girl does.)
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I grew up using Breck, but I doubt my sisters, I nor our mom read the ads beyond looking at the picture – we all wanted to be Breck Girls! Looking at the picture today, I am struck by how rounded her cheeks are and how healthy she looks. Nevermind the hair, bring back the Breck Girl.
@Lauri: I love the cherubic cheeks too – and what about that peasant blouse!
Ralph Lauren would probably have her cheeks photoshopped out.
I believe Breck well predated that 70s. I seem to remember ads from when I was a little girl in the 60s. The point about detergent from a marketing standpoint was that you washed your dishes and clothing with *detergent* (or as my dear German-American grandmother called it, “degenerate”) which was to get them squeaky clean, while you wouldn’t want to strip your hair that way. Breck came in at least three varieties for normal, oily and dry hair. Colortreated may have come later, but since only your hairdresser would know for sure, you might not want to advertise that you colored your hair (like a harlot). Famous Breck girls include Kim Basinger and Jaclyn Smith, I believe. Note the cherubic cheekiness of both of them.
It had a nice soft amber scent.