Head & Shoulders
Head & Shoulders (H&S) is an American brand of anti-dandruff and non dandruff shampoo produced by parent company Procter & Gamble that was introduced in 1961.[1]
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Product type | Anti-dandruff shampoo |
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Owner | Procter & Gamble |
Country | United States |
Introduced | November 1961[1] |
Markets | Worldwide |
Website | www![]() |
![](../I/Head_and_Shoulders_in_Taguig%252C_Metro_Manila.jpg.webp)
History
By 1982, it was the "number one brand" of shampoo, and it was noted that "(n)o 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.[2] The active ingredients are the antifungal agents selenium disulfide and piroctone olamine.[3]
Since the 1980s, the brand has 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.[4] In the 2000s, however, sales dropped off, blamed on overextension of the brand into too many varieties, with over 30 kinds of Head & Shoulders being sold.[5]
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 9781591391470. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
- Marketing & Decisions (1982), Volume 17, Issues 8-13, page 186.
- "Our Active Ingredients". Retrieved 16 November 2019.
- 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?"