By Sharon Oliver
Contributing Writer
SPRINGFIELD – Stores have been stocking shelves with shampoo brands since the products became available and some of the ads are unforgettable. Perhaps none more than Breck shampoo and those perfectly coiffed Breck Girls. Breck shampoo was founded in Springfield in 1930 by Dr. John H. Breck, Sr. and was credited with introducing the first Ph-balanced shampoo.
Over the years, there have been only two artists who worked as official illustrators of Breck Girls—Charles G. Sheldon of Worcester and Ralph W. Willliams of Canton. Initially, distribution remained localized in New England, and the product appeared only in trade publications and was sold exclusively to beauty salons until 1946.
Photo/Wikipedia
Over a hundred Breck Girls
There have been well over a hundred Breck Girls. The very first one was a 17-year-old spirited blond with a cherubic face named Roma Whitney Armstrong of Springfield and her portrait became the company trademark. Sheldon created his first pastel portraits for Breck in 1936, launching what would become one of America’s longest running ad campaigns. In 1946, the Breck campaign featured Sheldon’s 1937 painting of Whitney.
Ralph Williams succeeded Sheldon after his death and continued the company’s tradition of illustrating the models as sweet, wholesome and elegant, thus setting a standard for freshly shampooed females. Breck Girls symbolized “the kind of girl a mother would like her daughter to be,” featured in a gold frame with the words “Breck – Beautiful Hair” as the only words in the ad. Breck also was a sponsor of the America’s Junior Miss Pageant.
Not long after Williams came onboard, he created a portrait of his three-year-old granddaughter Faith Ann Williams of Burlington. The young dark-haired tyke was featured in the company’s Christmas ad and appeared in several magazines. Most Breck Girls were selected by the artists after spotting them on the street, in offices, church and summer camps. The first Breck girls were members of the Breck family, employees of the company and friends.
“We have never used professional models,” said Edward J. Breck, chairman of the board and son of John Breck. The ads were normally on the back cover of such magazines as Family Circle, Glamour, Ladies Home Journal, Woman’s Home Companion, Seventeen, and Vogue.
In 1971, Hasbro even manufactured the Bonnie Breck doll which was used for Breck shampoo advertising and costing only $2. The vintage collectible is still available for purchase online through sites like Etsy.
Ideals of beauty
Breck ads and commercials captivated the public and female consumer market. The portraits represented ideals of beauty at the time and reflected art and culture. So much so that the Breck Girls collections is part of the 20th-century advertising history records for the Archives Center of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
There eventually came a time when the glossy manes seen in Breck ads did not belong to women noticed as they went about their ordinary lives. Celebrities like Cheryl Tiegs, Cybill Shepherd, Jaclyn Smith, Farah Fawcett, Christie Brinkley, Brooke Shields and Kim Basinger along with her mother Ann were also chosen, thanks in large part to Williams, who often used professional women.
Popularity waned in 1970s
As with many products manufactured decades ago, competition and an absence of brand loyalty among consumers through the 1970s and 1980s helped wash Breck’s popularity away. The Breck Girl campaign was discontinued around 1978, although there have been at least two small revivals, first in 1992 with the Breck Girls Hall of Fame, and again in 1995 with the search to find three new Breck Women.
Nevertheless, Breck Girls’ legacy remains a part of America nostalgia from the golden era of advertising.
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