Shelley appeared in episode 3
of the The Real Mad Men of Advertising, 2017
In January of 2017, the Smithsonian Channel aired a limited series entitled The Real Mad Men of Advertising. It was a four-part series that looked into the people who helped create the advertising industry as we know it today. It featured the men and women who invented and re-invented the industry from the 1950s up until the 1980s - with each episode tackling one decade. Inspired by the hit TV series Mad Men, the show took viewers into the origins and history of advertising through the eyes and ears of the people who shaped and re-shaped it, transforming American, as well as world culture along the way.
screen captures of Shelley from episode 3
of the The Real Mad Men of Advertising, 2017
Episode 3 was about The 1970s. The decade is considered the golden age of advertising even though stricter laws were introduced to address false advertising and growing consumer mistrust in ads was prevalent. It forced the industry to become more creative and to embrace non-conformity - giving birth to aspirational advertising. It wasn't just about the products anymore but what the products represented, what the products meant to consumers. Emotions were brought in as part of the advertising mix. Brotherhood, equality, family, love - all were introduced as part of the advertising campaigns developed during the era. Shelley Hack appeared as herself in this episode.
screen captures of Shelley from episode 3
of the The Real Mad Men of Advertising, 2017
Shelley first became famous in the 1970s as THE Charlie Girl in those glamorous Revlon Charlie commercials and print ads. Charlie was introduced amid the 1970s resurgence of women's liberation (long after the women's suffrage movement decades past, during the 1920s.) Women were changing, gender roles were evolving. Women were entering the work force in droves and were beginning to get a taste of what it was like to be independent. The Revlon Charlie ads capitalized on this. The ideal woman of the 1970s was not anymore the subservient created by men for men. But the new ideal woman was a free, independent and confident person who was happy she was exactly that. And Shelley projected this image to perfection. She embodied the kind of woman women of the era aspired to become. And that is why Shelley's Charlie ads were so unforgettable, as many women around the world aspired to become the woman she projected in those ground-breaking and fabulous Charlie ads. By 1977, Charlie became the #1 fragrance in the world (the first American-made international bestseller) and Revlon sales figures passed the $1Billion mark. And Supermodel Shelley Hack THE Charlie Girl catapulted to icon.
screen captures of Shelley from episode 3
of the The Real Mad Men of Advertising, 2017
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