Silvikrin Shampoo

1964-02-11
Sound
1m

Silvikrin helps the modern girl-about-town achieve "do-what-you-want-able" hair in this 1960s ad starring Pattie Boyd.

Model Pattie Boyd achieves "do-what-you-want-able, go-out-at-once-able" hair with the help of Silvikrin shampoo in this hip 1960s advert, directed by Hollywood blacklist exile Joseph Losey. Grabbing the bottle and sticking her locks under the tap, she reappears seconds later with a perfectly dried and styled 'do, ready to sashay downstairs to the carful of boys anticipating her arrival. What more could the fashionable 60s girl want?

Later in 1964, Boyd would play a small role in A Hard Day's Night, on the set of which she met future husband George Harrison, and in 1965 had the venerable credit of "girl perfuming ankle" in The Knack ...and How to Get It. Actor (and dad of TV presenter Fern) Tony Britton provides his dulcet tones for voiceover duties in this advert.

What Women Want?

Caring mums, hard-working housewives or independent, fun-loving 'new women' - the female consumer has long been a target of screen advertising.

In the cause of selling anything from baked beans to washing powders to all manner of labour-saving devices, advertisers have promised to make women's lives easier and to help them build happy homes and successful relationships.

There's no getting past the fact that women have all-too often been patronised and objectified by a male-dominated advertising industry. But screen advertising also tells (and sells) a more positive story of social progress for women, with increasing social and economic independence. This collection tracks the ups and downs of female empowerment in the 20th century, with its false steps as revealing as its forward ones.