Dirty Blonde - Contemporary Popular Culture - Blonde Vs. Brunette Rivalry - Blondes Vs. Brunettes As Part of An Advertisement Campaign

Blondes Vs. Brunettes As Part of An Advertisement Campaign

Advertisements have also used the blondes vs. brunettes construct to sell merchandise. An example is the British-Dutch firm Unilever’s Sunsilk Color Showdown advertisements that tout a "war" between blondes and brunettes. Although Unilever's web site colorshowdown.com is no longer active, the commercials are still available on You Tube and other media sites.

"In order to answer the age-old question of who is better: blondes or brunettes?, Sunsilk created the Color Showdown, a campaign to ignite conversation about hair color rivalry while launching our newest line of products: the Sunsilk Color Collections."

Accompanying the ad campaign was an on-line poll sponsored by Sunsilk that asked 4,000 men to express their opinions about the differences between blondes and brunettes. Despite the fact that the advertisement campaign was intended to amuse, some found the approach sexist and the campaign generated discussion on various blog and web sites.

A more recent example of using blondes vs. brunettes as part of an advertisement campaign is the 2012 "For Eyes Optical" advertisement titled "No Matter How You See it, See it for Less." The advertisements feature people arguing points of view.

"The new commercials from For Eyes Optical's long-time agency, DeVito/Verdi, show a sparse debate stage where two differing points of view are monotonously and succinctly volleyed back and forth. In one spot, two Europeans go back and forth on their beachwear preference for the man-kini or the thong. Another spot shows two voluptuous women simply stating their hair color in the debate as to which one is superior."

The ad features two young women seated at tables and includes a large projection screen in the background that showed the title of the debate: "Blondes vs. Brunettes." The debate itself simply consists of the blonde saying "Blondes" and the brunette saying "Brunettes." The debate ends with the brunette tricking the blonde into saying "Brunette."

A 2006 advertisement for a Scrabble tournament held in France adapted a theatrical poster from the 1957 movie Reform School Girl. The original poster featured a blonde and brunette fighting over a pair of scissors. The Scrabble adaptation used the same image and included a French version of "Blonde vs. Brunette" spelled out in Scrabble tiles. The slogan read, "In Scrabble anything is possible. Grand National Tournament September 23, 2006."