Beauty

[Foxxee]

It's an American Sunscreen using a variety of branding, including the girl logo, a dog, and a distinctive fragrance.

One of the few remaining ads in existence is on the side of a building in Miami.

The original product dates to 1944, when pharmacist Benjamin Green invented a lotion to darken tans. The product line has been expanded to include many skin care products, predominantly sunscreens. It has become the leading sun care brand in the United States, with annual $9 billion in global sales.

The name originated from its marketing of suntan lotion, as opposed to sunscreen.

 

In the time when the product was a suntan lotion, the company introduced the character the ---------- girl, also known as Little Miss ----------. In the advertisement, a young blond girl in pigtails stares in surprise as a Cocker Spaniel puppy tugs at her swimsuit, revealing her tan line.

 

The original logo was the profile of an aboriginal chief. In 1953, Tally Embry Advertising in Florida was hired, and their ad men created the concept of the little girl and the pup. An artist named Joyce Ballantyne Brand re-drew the little girl in 1959 when the original artwork was destroyed in a fire. 

A series of mechanical billboards were constructed across the United States, whereon the motorized dog and swimsuit bottoms rocked up and down perpetually. Though most of them are long since gone or have stopped moving, one such billboard of the then Girl still stands in Miami Beach — dog, pigtails, swimsuit, bottom, and all.

 

When Joyce Ballantyne Brand redrew the logo in 1959, she purportedly used her daughter, Cheri, as her model, and her drawing closely resembled the original artwork.

An early slogan was, "Tan, don't burn."

[Roscoe the Rascal]

I do.

[monicakm]

@Foxxee 

Of course. Several years ago I bought a bottle of Coppertone to wear just for the fragrance.  It wasn't exact but close enough

[Spacrazy]

Yes, I remember and was very fond of this ad.

[nyc1]

@Foxxee   Oh yes.  Was just mentioning to my husband, who is from Chicago, that I remember being a young girl and seeing the small planes fly over the ocean at Jones Beach with this banner flying behind it!!!  

[OKPrincess]

Yes I remember this ad very well.

[GenXmuse]

I was in grade school when this came out and always laughed when we drove past a billboard because her bottom was showing! Lol it's very cute.

[PhilaLady1]

I remember the billboards at Atlantic City, before the casinos were built, that was the summer vacation destination of my family when I was a girl.  The song "tan don't burn, get a Coppertone tan".

[Tinkrbl44]

It's a very cute ad, but this triggered another memory ....  in junior high when we wanted to get some sun for a semblence of a tan, we got together at a friend's back yard.   

Peaceful, lawn chairs and a good radio.    Get this -- we used to make our own "sun tan lotion".  Yep.  We bought a bottle of baby oil. dumped a little of it out, and poured iodine into it and shook well.  The iodine was a dark brownish-red, and diluted in the baby oil, and applied, it looked like we had already tanned.  

[rms1954]

Yes.  When I was young girl I always spent Saturdays with my Dad fishing in a small row boat.  He always had a bottle in his tackle box and made me use it.