A Clairol ad featuring Christina Hendricks switching her hair from red to blonde using the company’s Nice n’ Easy product has been banned by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) in the United Kingdom. In the TV spot, however, the footage is reversed and she’s shown first as a red-head and then as a blonde.
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The ASA considered that people who viewed the ad “were likely to understand the ad to mean the colour change shown could be achieved using the Nicen’ Easy product alone, when dying hair from the type of red shade depicted, to a similar blonde shade to that in the ad”. “I think it’s time to change it up”.
Usually when commercials are banned it has to do with salacious content or offensive humor. On the second day of the shoot her hair was dyed red again.
In their report, the ASA concluded that though “there were practical reasons for P&G having shot the “blonde” part of the ad first”, Hendricks’s hair when it was re-dyed blonde in 2015 was not nearly as as “vibrant” as it had been when the blonde part of the commercial had been shot originally. They added that it was important that Hendricks’ hair was red after the shoot, as the new shade was yet to be publicly revealed.
Although both blonde dye jobs involved Hendricks transitioning from red hair, the authority noted that neither instance involved the dyeing of freshly dyed red hair, similar to the colour of Hendricks’ hair in the commercial.
Clairol’s parent company, Proctor and Gamble, issued a statement in which they claim the transformation we see Christina’s hair make in the commercial is entirely possible, even if Hendricks didn’t specifically use the product as portrayed in the commercial.
P&G said the colourist had confirmed he had used the Nice ‘N Easy product alone and in accordance with the instructions.
“However, we respect the final decision of the ASA and will be removing the TV copy from air effective immediately”. Hendricks was nominated for six Primetime Emmy Awards and received multiple Screen Actors Guild and Critics Choice Awards for her portrayal of the office beauty.
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However, product makers Procter & Gamble admitted the advert was actually filmed in reverse after they asked the actress – who has dyed her hair red since she was 10 – not to colour her hair in the eight weeks before filming to let her natural blonde come through. But landing herself in an ad-based controversy?
