Coppertone is the brand name for an American

sunscreen Sunscreen, also known as sunblock or sun cream, is a photoprotective topical product for the skin that mainly absorbs, or to a much lesser extent reflects, some of the sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation and thus helps protect against sunburn and ...

. Coppertone is headquartered in Whippany, New Jersey. Coppertone uses a variety of branding, including the Coppertone girl logo and a distinctive fragrance.

Product line

The original product dates to 1944, when

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

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

Branding

Coppertone name

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

Coppertone girl

In the time when the product was a suntan lotion, the company introduced the character the Coppertone girl, also known as Little Miss Coppertone. In the advertisement, a young blond girl in pigtails stares in surprise as a

Cocker Spaniel Cocker Spaniels are dogs belonging to two breeds of the spaniel dog type: the American Cocker Spaniel and the English Cocker Spaniel of which are commonly called simply Cocker Spaniel in their countries of origin. In the early 20th century, Cocker ...

puppy tugs at her swimsuit, revealing her tan line.

Logo history

The original Coppertone 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 Joyce Ballantyne (April 4, 1918 – May 15, 2006) was a painter of pin-up art. She is best known as the designer of the Coppertone girl, whose swimming costume is being pulled down by a dog. Early life and career She was born in Norfolk, Nebr ...

re-drew the little girl in 1959 when the original artwork was destroyed in a fire. She was then working for Grant Advertising in New York.

Coppertone sign

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 Coppertone Girl still stands in Miami Beach — dog, pigtails, swimsuit, bottom, and all.

Live models

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.

Fragrances

Many Coppertone products share a distinctive fragrance.

Chandler Burr Chandler Burr is an American journalist, author, and museum curator. Early life and education Born in Chicago and raised in Washington, D.C., Burr graduated from Principia College in Elsah, Illinois. He began his journalism career in 1987 as a ...

described it as "arguably the single greatest work of scent branding ever." A researcher on human memory used it as an example of an odor that evokes autobiographical memories. Besides for the classic fragrance, the Coppertone product line has expanded to include other scents. An early slogan for Coppertone was, "Tan, don't burn".

Ownership

* 1944 Benjamin Green develops a suntan lotion * 1957

Plough A plough or plow ( US; both ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses, but in modern farms are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden, iron or ...

acquires Coppertone * 1971 Schering Corporation merges with Plough to form

Schering-Plough Schering-Plough Corporation was an American pharmaceutical company. It was originally the U.S. subsidiary of the German company Schering AG, which was founded in 1851 by Ernst Christian Friedrich Schering. As a result of nationalization, it becam ...

* 2009

Merck & Co Merck & Co., Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey, and is named for Merck Group, founded in Germany in 1668, of whom it was once the American arm. The company does business as Merck Sharp ...

. acquires Schering-Plough * 2014

Bayer Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of busi ...

acquires Merck & Co.'s consumer business, including Coppertone * 2019

Beiersdorf AG Beiersdorf AG is a German multinational company that manufactures and retails personal-care products and pressure-sensitive adhesives. Its brands include Elastoplast, Eucerin (makers of Aquaphor), Labello, La Prairie, Nivea, Tesa SE (Tesa ta ...

announces agreement to acquire Coppertone from Bayer. According to Beiersdorf's president, the purchase will strengthen the company's presence in the USA market. Beiersdorf already owns

Nivea Nivea (, stylized as NIVEA) is a German personal care brand that specializes in skin and body care. It is owned by the Hamburg-based company Beiersdorf Global AG. The company was founded on 28 March 1882, by Paul Carl Beiersdorf. In 1890, it w ...

, whose ''Nivea Sun'' is a leading sunscreen in Europe.

Competitors

Circa 2018, competing brands included

Neutrogena Neutrogena Corporation, trading as Neutrogena, is an American company that markets skin care, hair care and cosmetics owned by parent company Johnson & Johnson and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

and Banana Boat.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coppertone Girl Advertising characters Female characters in advertising Schering-Plough brands Merck & Co. brands Former Bayer brands Beiersdorf brands Sunscreen brands Cosmetics brands Products introduced in 1944 2014 mergers and acquisitions 2019 mergers and acquisitions