Head & Shoulders

Head & Shoulders
Product type	Anti-dandruff, non-dandruff shampoo
Owner	Procter & Gamble
Produced by	Procter & Gamble
Country	United States
Introduced	1 January 1961; 63 years ago
Markets	Worldwide
Previous owners	Richardson Vicks
Website	Official Website (USA)

Head & Shoulders (H&S) is an American brand of anti-dandruff and non-dandruff shampoo produced by parent company Procter & Gamble.

The active anti-fungal ingredient in Head & Shoulders is piroctone olamine^[2] or zinc pyrithione^[3], with some "clinical strength" varieties also containing selenium disulfide.^[2]^[3]

History

Head & Shoulders was introduced in the United States on 1 January 1961 based in Manhattan and used the slogan "THE AMERICA AND WORLD's NO. 1 SHAMPOO".^[4]

It was referred to as "The America and World's Number One Anti-Dandruff and Non-Dandruff Shampoo Brand" of shampoo, and it was noted that "no one hair care brand gets so many ad dollars as Head & Shoulders, a twenty year old brand, and no other brand matches its sales", despite it being a "medicated" shampoo.^[5]

Marketing

The brand has long been marketed under the tagline "You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a First Impression", which has been identified as an example of "anxiety marketing" commonly used by Procter & Gamble to drive sales by inducing fears of social consequences associated with the condition that the product claims to address.^[6] However, sales of the product dropped off, a phenomenon blamed on overextension of the brand into too many varieties, with over thirty kinds of Head & Shoulders being sold.^[7]

References

^ Davis, Dyer; et al. (May 1, 2004). Rising Tide: Lessons from 165 Years of Brand Building at Procter and Gamble. Harvard Business Press. p. 423. ISBN 978-1-59139-147-0. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
^ ^a ^b "OUR ACTIVE INGREDIENTS". Retrieved 16 November 2019.
^ ^a ^b "Anti-Dandruff Active Ingredients". Archived from the original on 6 November 2024. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
^ Davis, Dyer; et al. (May 1, 2004). Rising Tide: Lessons from 165 Years of Brand Building at Procter and Gamble. Harvard Business Press. p. 423. ISBN 978-1-59139-147-0. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
^ Marketing & Decisions (1982), Volume 17, Issues 8-13, page 186.
^ Thomas O'Guinn, Chris Allen, Richard J. Semenik, Advertising and Integrated Brand Promotion (2014), p. 210: "When Head & Shoulders dandruff shampoo is advertised with the theme "You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a First Impression", the audience realizes that Head & Shoulders could spare them the embarrassment of having dandruff".
^ Matt Haig, Brand Failures: The Truth about the 100 Biggest Branding Mistakes of All Time (2005), p. 73: "Procter & Gamble had seen the same thing happen with its Head & Shoulders brand. Did consumers really need 31 varieties of anti-dandruff shampoo?"

External links

[P&Ghist-1] Davis, Dyer; et al. (May 1, 2004). Rising Tide: Lessons from 165 Years of Brand Building at Procter and Gamble. Harvard Business Press. p. 423. ISBN 978-1-59139-147-0. Retrieved 2013-05-07.

[H&Scouk-2] "OUR ACTIVE INGREDIENTS". Retrieved 16 November 2019.

[H&Scom-3] "Anti-Dandruff Active Ingredients". Archived from the original on 6 November 2024. Retrieved 6 November 2024.

[P&Ghist2-4] Davis, Dyer; et al. (May 1, 2004). Rising Tide: Lessons from 165 Years of Brand Building at Procter and Gamble. Harvard Business Press. p. 423. ISBN 978-1-59139-147-0. Retrieved 2013-05-07.

[5] Marketing & Decisions (1982), Volume 17, Issues 8-13, page 186.

[6] Thomas O'Guinn, Chris Allen, Richard J. Semenik, Advertising and Integrated Brand Promotion (2014), p. 210: "When Head & Shoulders dandruff shampoo is advertised with the theme "You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a First Impression", the audience realizes that Head & Shoulders could spare them the embarrassment of having dandruff".

[7] Matt Haig, Brand Failures: The Truth about the 100 Biggest Branding Mistakes of All Time (2005), p. 73: "Procter & Gamble had seen the same thing happen with its Head & Shoulders brand. Did consumers really need 31 varieties of anti-dandruff shampoo?"

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