A Review of True Colours - Malcom Gladwell

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A REVIEW OF TRUE COLOURS - MALCOM GLADWELL Background: The Madison Avenue advertisement campaigns created and ran by Shirley Polykoff and Ilon Specht respectively for Clairol and L’Oreal reveal the importance of understanding the underlying psychosocial relationships between the consumers and the products itself. The social, personal and professional experiences of Shirley Polykoff and Ilon Specht and the “motivational research” done by as Herta Herzog and others reveal that in order to reach modern consumers successfully, an in-depth understanding of the psychological elements of the relationship consumer’s form with their products they desire and buy is necessary. Malcolm Gladewell true color essay explains how the products and the commercial messages form the psychological furniture of consumer’s life. In their own ways Shirley Polykoff and Ilon Specht understood and succeeded to touch the psyche of consumers. Because of the power to shape emotions, their advertisements influenced in creating and maintaining specific gender norms. Review: True Colours tells the stories of two female copywriters Shirley Polykoff and Ilon Specht, who with short catchy taglines summarized the particular feminist sensibilities of their day. Their success highlights the importance focused advertising campaigns aimed to interpret with the consumer perception. Both of them understood the changing mindset of the American Women in the 1950s to the 1970s to successfully connect them personally as consumers to Clairol and L’Oreal. It was the expression of Polykoffs personal feelings and the understanding of the issues faced by average American women in the 1950s that led to the success of Miss Clairols “Does She or Doesn’t She” campaign. The campaign gave an opportunity for the American woman of that time to discretely choose their own hair colour. It demonstrated a clear

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