Shirley Polykoff Oral History Interview
name: label: Interviewee
content: Polykoff, Shirley
label: Interviewer
content: Ellsworth, Scott, Dr.
title: label: Topic
content: Clairol (Cosmetics)
topic: label: Topic
content: Women in the advertising industry
label: Topic
content: Women in advertising
label: Topic
content: Advertising campaigns
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by Shirley Polykoff, 1994.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Polykoff, Shirley
label: Interviewer
content: Ellsworth, Scott, Dr.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Shirley Polykoff Oral History Interview
abstract: label: Summary
content: Oral history describing her career in advertising, especially the creation of the Clairol advertisement "Does She or Doesn't She?" in the 1950s.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Shirley Polykoff was born in Brooklyn in 1908 of Russian Jewish parents.  Polykoff joined the well-known New York advertising agency Foote, Cone & Belding as a copywriter in 1955.  Before her association with Foote, Cone & Belding, Ms. Polykoff had worked in a variety of creative positions for both advertising agencies and corporate advertising departments, as she describes in this interview.  Her work on Foote Cone and Belding=s Clairol account produced a string of memorable advertising campaigns, including authorship of the campaign slogans "Does she or doesn't she?" and "Is it true blondes have more fun?" When these campaigns were credited with a phenomenal increase in Clairol sales, Polykoff was promoted to a vice presidency at the agency.  She founded her own agency, Shirley Polykoff Advertising in 1974, and became the first woman elected to the Advertising Hall of Fame, in 1983.   

Ms. Polykoff was married to lawyer George P. Halperin, who died in1960. At the time of this interview, she was living in New York City, having retired from advertising in 1983. She died in 1998.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Cassette tape
label: Extent
content: 0.3 Cubic feet (1 document box)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1990.
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: Interview conducted by oral historian Scott Ellsworth for the Center for Advertising History, Archives Center.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0474
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Cassette tapes
label: Type
content: Audiocassettes
label: Type
content: Audiotapes
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: 1 series.
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by NMAH Staff, undated
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Audiocassettes
label: Genre/Form
content: Audiotapes
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Shirley Polykoff covers both her early days in New York as a careerwoman and her distinguished years at Foote, Cone & Belding, where she was  responsible for the Clairol account.  She discusses the creative process that  goes into successful copywriting, the difficulty of being both a woman and Jewish in the advertising world, and the role her personal experiences played in        shaping her professional life. The collection consists of one taped 60-minute interview and an abstract of the interview.