Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn?

An episode of Mad Men came to mind last class as we discussed the Tommy Hilfiger ad, which displayed both a brunette and a blonde lounging on the hood of a car. The differences between the women were apparent: the brunette more conservative and preppy, the blonde more voluptuous and sexy. This technique has been used often in ads to seemingly appeal to two very different kinds of women at the same time; iconicly the Jackie Kennedy or the Marilyn Monroe. But just who exactly are they appealing to?

In a season two episode of Mad Men, Don Draper comes to this realization while looking around his office in an attempt to gain inspiration for a Playtex ad. He notices the secretaries can easily be split into two categories, the Jackies and the Marilyns. However, after further reflection Don realizes that what women want is to be both the Jackie and the Marilyn at the same time. Why? Because men want both women. Men want the Jackie, the brunette, girl next door, that they can take home to their mother. But they also want the Marilyn, the blonde bombshell, who is daring and risque. Below is the ad devised by Don Draper and the team at Sterling Cooper:

The ad appeals to not two different kinds of women, but two sides of the same woman. The conservative side and the wild side. As Don points out in the episode both the Jackie and the Marilyn in the ad are played by the same model. "And if you didn't catch that", says Draper, "the tag line says it all": Nothing fits both sides of a woman better than Playtex.The Tommy Hilfiger ad, though far less explicit, is saying the same thing. If you wear Tommy Hilfiger you can have it all. You can be the Jackie and the Marilyn. The clothes fit both sides of your personality. In fact, the ad may read Nothing fits both sides of a woman better than Tommy Hilfiger, for Tommy Hilfiger is appropriate for either situation. Therefore, if you shop at Tommy Hilfiger you can be the Jackie and the Marilyn, both sides of your personality will be fulfilled.

The below ad for MeChar handbags is also using the Jackie/Marilyn technique. On the left is the more conservative brunette and on the right the sexier blonde, and if you buy MeChar you can be both. It fits either sides of your personality. If you buy a MeChar bag you can be shy when you want to be and bold when you want to be. MeChar is applicable to both. The message of the ad, like the message of Tommy Hilfiger and Playtex: if you want both you can have both if you buy our product.