How these classic TV moment showed women were already ahead in advertising

08 May 2023 , 21:15

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Famous ad for Cadbury Flake

The catchy Shake n’ Vac jingle; the steamy Levi’s laundrette strip; the woman enjoying a Flake in a bath – these were more than just adverts, they were the talk of the nation.

And they were all created by pioneering women.

In the 1970s, the male-dominated advertising industry made way for a trailblazing group of female creatives at a time when TV commercials were often better than the programmes they were shown in the middle of. In a Channel 4 documentary called Mad Women, to be screened tonight, some of them speak out about the stories behind the ads, the cut-throat industry we know from TV hit Mad Men and their revolutionary campaigns.

Ad boss Alex Taylor says: “Long gone are the days of housewives being seen over a kitchen sink selling a washing powder.”

Levi’s 501 laundrette

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The steamy 1985 ad broke the mould, putting men forward to be the objects of desire instead of women.

Nick Kamen in Levi's ad (COPYRIGHT UNKNOWN)

Copywriter Barbara Nokes, a former secretary, was behind the Levi’s ad in which singer Nick Kamen stripped to his undies. Now 80, she says: “The arrogance of men astounded me.

“The Levi’s brand had aged so our plan was to give it back real edge. I dredged up this memory – I was in a laundrette and in came an Irish guy.

Kamen sets pulses racing as he strips (COPYRIGHT UNKNOWN)

“He took his clothes off except his underpants and put it in the washing machine. I was a bit alarmed.

“The ad probably was the first time women were given the opportunity of ogling a boy. And ogle we did.”

Castlemaine 4X/British Army

Bringing “something for the ladies” to the Castlemaine 4X brand, ad boss Alex Taylor remembers the beer’s “sweet sherry” ad was her first project at Saatchi & Saatchi.

Army ad campaign

She says: “I remember ringing my dad and he said, ‘I’ve just seen a great ad on the telly’. I said dad, ‘That’s my ad’. He said ‘Bloody great, I’ll go down the pub tonight and tell my mates’.”

But Alex’s satisfying campaign was for the British Army after their 1997 drive to recruit more women. She came up with the idea for a woman and baby being rescued by a female soldier.

Castlemaine XXXX advert

Alex says: “It’s my proudest campaign. The strapline ‘Be The Best’ is still used today.”

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Shake n’ Vac

Back in 1980, you might have heard people singing “Do the shake n’ vac and put the freshness back”, after the Glade carpet freshener advert proved a hit starring Jenny Logan skipping around her living room.

Famous Shake N' Vac commercial (Advertising Archives)

The first full ad for Carol Reay, who later became chief executive of Mellors Reay & Partners, she recalls: “Women were portrayed as housewives and often the adverts would be quite patronising.”

She remembers the 1970 Fairy Liquid advert, with a mother washing up with “soft hands” and helping her daughter bathe her dolly, was “universally hated”.

Fairy Liquid advert (Daily Record)

Carol says: “I’d go to parties and say I was in advertising and someone would have a go at me. I hated making an advert with another housewife but it would have been just out there to say ‘Let’s have a man doing the hoovering’.”

Lynx

Teenage boys – or their mums – bought Lynx deodorant sprays in their millions, all thanks to one woman.

Lynx bikini ad (Handout)

Rosie Arnold worked on the “Lynx effect” campaigns including the 2006 ad where women in bikinis clambered to reach an ordinary guy spraying Lynx, triggered by desire.

The advertising guru laughs: “We weren’t just selling it to young men, we were selling it to mums. So we had to be careful how far we went and make sure it was still humorous.”

Rosie Arnold (ex)

Dove real beauty

Nearly 20 years ago, Dove dared to stick its neck out with a brave “real beauty” campaign that railed against supermodel looks and was ahead of its time.

The Dove models (PA)

Daryl Fielding, former managing partner at Ogilvy and Mather agency, was behind the groundbreaking 2004 campaign that featured normal women of all sizes.

She says: “When we would explain the strategy – the women thought it was amazing and the men were very baffled. We were avid that we were going to make this happen. There was a do or die spirit.”

Daryl Fielding

Pretty Polly mechanic

Up until the 1980s, adverts for Pretty Polly stockings mostly featured disembodied sexy legs in heels strutting around for men’s enjoyment.

Rosie Arnold, former creative director at Bartle Bogle Hegarty, wanted to crush the cliches when she started out. Her famous 1987 ad features a glamorous woman driving a stunning coast road in a convertible Jaguar, before fixing it with her stocking after it breaks down.

Pretty Polly advert

Rosie says: “I wanted to do an advert that was more for women than for men. Then I remembered my mum and I had been driving home one night and the car had broken down and she knew exactly how to fix it.

“It was late at night in the pouring rain by a pig farm so I used a bit of creative license. I’m still really proud of it. It’s empowered but it also shows you the stockings.”

Model fixes car with her stocking

Cadbury Flake bath

Adverts became more raunchy in the 90s and everyone remembers the highly suggestive, sexy Flake advert for the “crumbliest, flakiest milk chocolate in the world”.

The woman sinking into a bath and slowly eating the chocolate bar in 1992 was one of the first commercials worked on by Kate Stanners, now Saatchi & Saatchi’s chief global creative officer.

Kate Stanners

Kate says: “As a young woman I remember being given the brief and saying ‘Oh, the audience are women’. I never realised that because it’s obviously quite phallic the way it’s always been eaten. But it is sexy with its tongue firmly in its cheek and it came from a place of me thinking about what my ultimate indulgence was.

“I said my ideal Thursday night is a hot bath, a glass of wine and a Flake, so we just wrote that. It became a cultural moment and got spoofed a lot.

“But I always say, it’s chocolate, it’s fun and joyful.”

* Mad Women is on Channel 4 tonight at 10pm

Sara Wallis